The Power of One
Every day we are given a choice. Do we live as one people or do we live by our separations? Do we live as a color, black, white, yellow or brown? Do we live as a religion, Christian, Jew, Buddha, Muslim or Tao? Do we live as a nationality, Italian, Scottish, German, Israeli, Syrian? Do we live as a political party Republican, Democrat, Independent, Socialist, Labor Party? Do we fight amongst ourselves day after day, all over the globe or do we try to live as one in peace?
But for the grace of God, or more accurately for the grace of the Universe we could all be someone else, somewhere else. We could be somewhere where there is famine. We could be somewhere where there are children starving. We could be somewhere where people are being shot in the street for freedom. We could be fighting in Afghanistan or having bombs dropped on us in Afghanistan. We could be sending our children to school hungry.
But for the grace of the universe we could be somebody different then who we are at the moment. Our souls pick our lives and we try to live them to the best of our ability but suppose our soul had taken a different path in a different place? At this very moment, we could be fighting our brother or sister soul or we could find communion in them and find peace and love.
There are so many things that divide us and we have become the scourge of one, it starts with our leaders who fight wars with other people's children. It continues with religion, Muslim against Jew, Christian against Jew, Christian against atheist. It continues with political party, horrible hateful things said about Republicans and horrible hateful things said by Democrats. It continues with gender, women against men, men against women. It follows down to sexual orientation , gay versus straight. Finally it ends up with us fighting ourselves to be accepted or rejected for trying to forge our own unique path.
In the end all we have is the power of one. We are all created in the same way. In one form or another we come from a sperm and an egg, we live in our mothers until it is time to break out and then we take our first breath. Hopefully we are brought into love and we are nurtured and cared for until we are able to crawl. And then we walk. We all laugh, we all cry, we all urinate and defecate. We learn how to speak, how to learn, how to be who we ultimately become as a person. Every single one of us has a unique and compelling story. Not one person on earth goes from a happy little baby to a happy teenager, to a happy adult to a happy person dying. We all have our trials and tribulations and need each other to lean on when things get tough.
We are all brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, aunts, uncles, cousins. None of us just lands plop into our existence as an island separated from everything else. But soon enough the power of one is not enough and we become the Hatfields and the McCoys fighting over every single thing including whether to feed and educate our future using our tax dollars. Over who gets the china in a divorce. Over why we should care that there are children in Iraq and Israel hoping to stay alive with bombs dropping all around them.
But for the grace of god, brothers and sisters we have to remember that one simple saying. But for the grace of God, or Buddha or Mohammed. It's time we look at a different paradigm that reminds us that we are all connected to each other and to the trees and to the seas and to the air. Do you think a tree says I don't like that maple tree over there I wish he were an oak? Do you think the ocean says I will overtake the lake and bring it salt water? Or perhaps the mountain says I will overtake the valley and make us all hilly and hard to climb? No, and somehow even knowing that answer we call ourselves the lucky ones because we can think and work and produce and breath. Everything breaths, think of the poor lowly mosquito. A mosquito is the scourge of the earth, everyone tries to kill a mosquito. It may give us a disease and serves no purpose. But it is still a living thing.
If you are reading this post this morning you are a living thing with a brain. Act like one. Find somebody different then you are and reach out your hand and shake it or hold it in peace. Find the power of one and remember but there for the grace of God go I. And go hug a tree. Really go hug a tree it may be the nicest moment you'll have all day. And maybe if you are lucky there will be a beautiful bird singing a song in it and a hungry cat far away. Blessings.
But for the grace of God, or more accurately for the grace of the Universe we could all be someone else, somewhere else. We could be somewhere where there is famine. We could be somewhere where there are children starving. We could be somewhere where people are being shot in the street for freedom. We could be fighting in Afghanistan or having bombs dropped on us in Afghanistan. We could be sending our children to school hungry.
But for the grace of the universe we could be somebody different then who we are at the moment. Our souls pick our lives and we try to live them to the best of our ability but suppose our soul had taken a different path in a different place? At this very moment, we could be fighting our brother or sister soul or we could find communion in them and find peace and love.
There are so many things that divide us and we have become the scourge of one, it starts with our leaders who fight wars with other people's children. It continues with religion, Muslim against Jew, Christian against Jew, Christian against atheist. It continues with political party, horrible hateful things said about Republicans and horrible hateful things said by Democrats. It continues with gender, women against men, men against women. It follows down to sexual orientation , gay versus straight. Finally it ends up with us fighting ourselves to be accepted or rejected for trying to forge our own unique path.
In the end all we have is the power of one. We are all created in the same way. In one form or another we come from a sperm and an egg, we live in our mothers until it is time to break out and then we take our first breath. Hopefully we are brought into love and we are nurtured and cared for until we are able to crawl. And then we walk. We all laugh, we all cry, we all urinate and defecate. We learn how to speak, how to learn, how to be who we ultimately become as a person. Every single one of us has a unique and compelling story. Not one person on earth goes from a happy little baby to a happy teenager, to a happy adult to a happy person dying. We all have our trials and tribulations and need each other to lean on when things get tough.
We are all brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, aunts, uncles, cousins. None of us just lands plop into our existence as an island separated from everything else. But soon enough the power of one is not enough and we become the Hatfields and the McCoys fighting over every single thing including whether to feed and educate our future using our tax dollars. Over who gets the china in a divorce. Over why we should care that there are children in Iraq and Israel hoping to stay alive with bombs dropping all around them.
But for the grace of god, brothers and sisters we have to remember that one simple saying. But for the grace of God, or Buddha or Mohammed. It's time we look at a different paradigm that reminds us that we are all connected to each other and to the trees and to the seas and to the air. Do you think a tree says I don't like that maple tree over there I wish he were an oak? Do you think the ocean says I will overtake the lake and bring it salt water? Or perhaps the mountain says I will overtake the valley and make us all hilly and hard to climb? No, and somehow even knowing that answer we call ourselves the lucky ones because we can think and work and produce and breath. Everything breaths, think of the poor lowly mosquito. A mosquito is the scourge of the earth, everyone tries to kill a mosquito. It may give us a disease and serves no purpose. But it is still a living thing.
If you are reading this post this morning you are a living thing with a brain. Act like one. Find somebody different then you are and reach out your hand and shake it or hold it in peace. Find the power of one and remember but there for the grace of God go I. And go hug a tree. Really go hug a tree it may be the nicest moment you'll have all day. And maybe if you are lucky there will be a beautiful bird singing a song in it and a hungry cat far away. Blessings.
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