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10 18 40 60 - A PRAYER
(Following an attack by IS militants in eastern Syria, Jan. 16, 2016.)
We do not know what to do about violence infused by an ideology that claims to be of God but is not. The roots of such an ideology must be uprooted so that peace may come to the Earth and the source of hatred be no more. This can happen through the power of light. All hearts are waiting for it.
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10, 18, 40, 60 - A
Prayer
10, 18, 40, 60.
These are the numbers of the invisible dead,
killed by bombs planted secretly among them,
not the bombs strapped to human bodies,
but the bombs made of human hearts
filled with illusions of virtue and sacrifice.
10, 18, 40, 60.
These are the numbers one can barely hear
due to their repetition.
Invisible faces, invisible horrors,
daily, hourly, weekly,
suffered at the hands of brothers and sisters.
In a moment a life extinguished,
a child's life,
a mother's life,
a yearning life,
yearning to live and grow on its own terms.
What numbers have we become used to
as we hear them repeated?
What faces, what hearts,
what tears as we view the war-torn
limbs of children caught in the
siege of battle?
10, 18, 40, 60.
We do not see their faces.
We do not know their names.
We cannot honor them in their lives or
deaths because we only know them
as numbers.
Yet, the numbers live among us.
They live in our deepest hearts.
They live within the landscape of death
that can only be redeemed by life,
They live within the landscape of war
that can only be redeemed by peace,
They live within the landscape of darkness
that can only be redeemed by light.
May the peace that dwells within all prevail.
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