Peace

Peace. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart. www.innerkiddies.com 

Lest we forget.... The human mind is designed to forget.  Tragedies happen to everyone at sometime...to someone everyday.  The tragedy of Pearl Harbor is all but forgotten.  Columbine is used to compare yesterdays tragedy but hardly anyone remembers their name.  Twin towers memorial serves as a reminder to the fateful day in September but people already forget about the planes that crashed into the Pentagon and into a field in Pennsylvania.  The students I work with were only 3 and 4 years old at the time.  September 11 had little meaning for them.  My sister resented me for acting as if nothing happened in our childhood.  When I entered counseling I talked about how totally my mind was wiped clean of past events, she was stunned to realize I acted as if nothing happened because in my mind it hadn't.  She attempted to talk to me about one of our shared memory and stopped talking when I nearly passed out from the distress of not remembering.  These events happen again and again.  People run around screaming we need more laws and more control, yet countries such as Norway also suffered terribly from people choosing to harm others as their means of protest. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Norway_attacks Such world events remind us that more laws and greater control has little meaning for those desiring to harm others.  I listened to a speech given by a young man whose friend was shot and killed in England and there was no one there to stop them.  The criminals were the ones with the guns for they cared nothing for the laws.  I can not control the person that chooses to harm others.  I can not assume that because the person that harms children is considered insane; does not mean that every mentally ill person will harm children.  I remembered my past, I can not change it.  I can only change myself and learn from what I now know.  I hold to my memories not to torture myself with past events but as remembrance and learning.  Taking time to embrace those I love.  Taking time to listen to children and grandchildren.  Taking a moment to stop on a busy street to let a waiting car turn into traffic.  To patiently wait for the elderly lady to find all the coins she needs for payment.  Or just for fun toss in a quarter myself to speed her on her way.  Tragedies will strike.  As long as human exist, bad things will happen, that will not change.  What I do with each experience is where I can make a difference.  Am I kinder and more compassionate?  Do I show my loved ones everyday that I love them?  Am I grateful for the life I am living right now?  I use such tragedies to gauge myself, am I being the person I want to be right now?  Lest I forget...



God of our fathers, known of old—
Lord of our far-flung battle line—
Beneath whose awful hand we hold
Dominion over palm and pine—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

The tumult and the shouting dies—
The Captains and the Kings depart—
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

Far-called our navies melt away—
On dune and headland sinks the fire—
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

If, drunk with sight of power, we loose
Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe—
Such boastings as the Gentiles use,
Or lesser breeds without the Law—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

For heathen heart that puts her trust
In reeking tube and iron shard—
All valiant dust that builds on dust,
And guarding calls not Thee to guard.
For frantic boast and foolish word,
Thy Mercy on Thy People, Lord!
Amen.
Rudyard Kipling
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recessional_%28poem%29