Joy to the World

The first time I heard that the Jews, Christians and Muslims all share the same, foundational Holy Writ (the Torah, the 5 books of Moses in the Old Testament, and the Tawrat/Quran), was…I’m so ashamed to say…when I was in my 40s.  [How is that possible, coming from a preacher’s home?!]

Assuming Google is correct, ca. 33% of the world’s population are Christian (1 out of 3 people); 25% are Muslim (1 out of 4 people); and 0.2% are Jewish (1 out of 514 people).  Quick math:  ca. 58% of the world’s population share the same Holy Scripture.

The impact of this starts hitting home when you consider that most of the world apparently grew up with The Ten Commandments:  Thou shalt not kill, for starters. 

For those of us who are Christian, Jesus came early on the scene with his Sermon on the Mount, calling the peacemakers “blessed” and saying that those who are angry are as bad as those who kill.  He said, in essence, that the letter of the law has a spirit:  the law is fulfilled when we are peacemakers, not just when we don’t kill.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot since Astrid and I visited Antwerp’s Jewish neighborhood over the Thanksgiving weekend and found ourselves surrounded by Orthodox Jews leaving their synagogues on their Sabbath.  Wars and rumors of war between Israel and Palestine and potentially Iran, to say nothing of the entire Middle East, are rumbling in the brain’s recesses.  Just more of the same ol’ same ol’ on the CNN Int'l news I watch here in the Netherlands.  Including now what just happened in Newtown, CT, closer to home. 

Now, jump to this.

Remember when Jesus also said to love your neighbor as yourself…and how many of us grew up emphasizing the neighbor part but not the yourself part?!  How can you possibly love your neighbor if you don’t love yourself first, right?!  Yada yada yada.  [And when did we learn that in church?]

But.  If you don’t love yourself, how can you be a peacemaker?  If you aren’t a peacemaker, how can you have joy?  If you don’t love yourself how can you have joy!  If you’re angry, how can you love yourself and make peace and have joy?  And that’s not even 6 degrees of separation!

I often say “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.”  How about also “Let there be love on earth and let it begin with me loving myself.”

And how about “Let there be JOY TO THE WORLD and let it begin with me in my own heart!”

Evil in the open is but evil from within that has been let out.
The main battlefield for good is not the open ground of the public arena
but the small clearing of each heart.
--Yann Martel, Life of Pi

All the World's a Stage

CNN World Headquarters, Atlanta, GA

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts….
--William Shakespeare, As You Like It

If ever there’s been a stage with its players…if ever a time for exits and entrances…it’s been this 2012 American presidential election, ready to take its “final” bow tomorrow.

Fear not.  This is not a political announcement and I do NOT approve that message.

This is an announcement about the world being our stage.  Not America.  Not the UK.  Not Europe.  The WORLD.  The  w h o l e   w i d e   w o r l d.

This is an announcement about how love wins, not hate.  About how peace begins with us in our own homes and relationships.  No matter who wins the election tomorrow!

For the past 7 years I have lived in Europe part or full-time every month.  For the last 3 years it’s been full-time, while married to my Dutch wife.  It actually helps to get away to see America as others outside see it.  As Astrid and her co-workers see it.  You learn what truly is ugly.  What makes your eyes roll. 

I’m not always proud to be an American, to be honest….

BUT. 

I AM an American and have a rich heritage of freedoms many in the rest of the world can only dream of.  For one, I can vote, and I did.  My absentee ballot was mailed over a month ago, and even though it’s from a very RED state and means my vote probably doesn’t count, I had the freedom to vote.  I’d like to believe it counts on some level.  Sure, I can’t yet move back to said Red State with Astrid as my wife (or any state, for that matter, Red or Blue), but I had the freedom to leave and marry her here.  [And we can go back to visit without being stoned.]

Love wins, not hate.  And so as the stage takes on a new energy tomorrow, regardless of who wins, my heart is expanding to accept it, at all costs.  Against all odds.  If my candidate wins, will I be gracious in victory?  If my candidate loses, will I be gracious in defeat, trusting a Greater Power to stem the tide of a rearing, vitriolic head seldom seen in election years?

Talk about the gut-wrenching power of social media!  The money spent!

When the dust settles from all the lies and hate, we’ll be left with the world stage and how America will once again find her way.  I watched her stumble and lose her foothold there for awhile.  Then she started to stand tall once again.  Does she need to be #1 in the world?  I doubt it.  Does she need to be the best in everything?  She’s not!  I'm over it.  But does she need to lead by example and get her house back in order?  Oh yes, Virginia.  YES.

The choice tomorrow is America’s but the impact is on the entire world, whether we like it or not.  Will we embrace ourselves as well as the rest of the human family on earth?  Will we move forward in the spirit of solidarity?  Will we cooperate globally?  Will we Blog4Peace?  

Merely players.  Exits and entrances.  Many parts.  The grand scheme of things.  Love, not hate.  Peace, not war. 

Dona Nobis Pacem
Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me!
(I approve this message.)

It's a Small World After All

This week, Thursday, Astrid and I fly [faster than a tricycle without pedals!] to Liverpool from Amsterdam for a 5-day honeymoon.  We will be staying with Tracy, a fellow Shutterchancer (SC) whom we met 3 years ago and whom we call the 3rd Musketeer.  On Saturday morning we will meet up with the Three Stooges, 3 SC fellas (all from the UK) we have grown close to over the years:  Bill, Chris and Chad.  Astrid has already met them.  On Saturday afternoon we will then meet up with many other SCers from all over who will get together just for the halibut...most of whom have never yet met each other.

This has got me thinking about our virtual communities and the amount of time we spend with each other on our blogs, reading and commenting back-n-forth.  A virtual friend I recently met through this community, V&V, told me that sometimes these virtual friendships are more real than...reality.  I had to stop and think about that!  She may be right:  I spend more time with some of you than my friends from Atlanta (now that I'm on the other side of the Pond).  On SC I joke around with friends I've never met but whose sentences I can finish.

Our children and grandchildren are growing up in a world where this is the ho-hum norm.  While we all know of the "freak accidents" of the Internet world, sometimes with costly invasions of our privacy, we still bare our souls to each other, perhaps in ways we have never previously done.  If we actually meet in real life, a friendship can be truly cemented...for life.

Already in the young world of V&V I am starting to feel "connected."  Based on my blogging experience thus far, I'm guessing I'll eventually even meet some of you.  It's such a small world after all!  And Petra, a fellow collaborator here on V&V, is only 30 km away!  Sounds like a no-brainer, right?

And now that I think of it, Astrid and I met in 2007  through our SC photoblog community while commenting on each other's posts.  Three months later we had the chance to actually meet while I was in the Netherlands and then started doing photo hunts together.  Almost 3 years later, I moved to Holland where we are now wife and wife...getting ready to go on our honeymoon.

It's a small world after all!  I'm humming the tune of the Disneyland ride I have taken so many times, reminded of the "children of the world, frolicking in a spirit of international unity, and singing the ride's title track, which has a theme of global peace."

It's a world of laughter,
A world of tears.
It's a world of hopes,
And a world of fears.
There's so much that we share,
That it's time we're aware,
It's a small world after all.

There is just one moon,
And one golden sun.
And a smile means,
Friendship to every one.
Though the mountains divide,
And the oceans are wide,
It's a small world after all.

--By Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman

I would say that just about says it all!