peace.

I had a blog post ready to go for tonight. It was about using social media (my obsession this summer, for some bizarre, inexplicable reason--my obsession should be writing, and it is...but also: status updates and posting exactly 1 million pointless instagram pictures) (sigh). But I checked my facebook news feed a few hours ago and saw this story. Which I've loosely been following since the three boys were kidnapped a few weeks ago; I know people with family in Israel and this has been heart-wrenching for them to watch.

I'm not right or left about the things that happen in Israel and Palestine; quite frankly, I have a hard time understanding what's going on right now. And I deeply want to understand, because I'd like to see a peaceful solution to what seems to be a very old problem that's been festering for a very long time, erupting pus every now and then. At some point, don't people just get tired of all the hatred, all the fighting? I know when I hate someone and fight and hate and fight, usually I get tired and end up taking a nap. Maybe everyone just needs a good, quiet nap. Ultimately, I want Palestinians and Israelis to be friends and sing Kumbayah together. All over the planet, I want Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Mormons, Hindus, Jehovah's Witnesses, Wiccans, pagans, theists, pantheists, atheists, agnostics, and everyone in between to live together in peace.

I want us to grow community gardens together, and make meals from them with our unique cultural tastes. I want us teach our children lullabies in each other's languages. I want us to listen to each other's stories and weep and laugh together. I want to help Muslim friends break their Ramadan fasts, to help Jewish friends prepare Passover seders. I want my Christian friends to do some meditations with my Buddhist friends, and I want Buddhist friends to help Wiccan friends light candles outside under a full moon and I want all of us--ALL of us--to dance naked together under it. Jehovah's Witnesses--well, if you friends will agree to stop lecturing everyone about why they shouldn't celebrate holidays and birthdays, we all promise to make the atheists stop being sarcastic with you.

We are ALL God's** children, we are all connected. When one of is sick, we are all sick. When one of our children is murdered, a tiny piece of each of our souls is murdered with them. Please stop hurting each other, humanity. Please, please stop.

This is a poem I keep in one of my journals, and I go to it every now and then because this is who I want to be, and defines the type of people I strive to surround myself with. I think if all of planet Earth could just...do THIS, we'd be okay. We'd be okay as a species.

THE INVITATION

by Orion Mountain Dreamer

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living.

I want to know what you ache for,

And if you dare to dream of meeting 

Your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are.

I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool

For love, for your dream, 

For the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon.

I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow,

If you have been opened by life's betrayals,

Or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain, 

Mine or your own,

Without moving 

To hide it or fade it or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, 

Mine or your own,

If you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes 

Without cautioning us to be careful, realistic, to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true.

I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself,

If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. 

I want to know if you can be faithless and therefore be trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty 

Even when it is not pretty every day,

And if you can source your own life 

From its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, 

Yours and mine,

And still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, 

"Yes!"

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have.

I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair,

Weary and bruised to the bone, 

And do what needs to be done for the children.

It doesn't interest me who you are, how you came to be here.

I want to know if you will stand 

In the center of the fire with me 

And not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied.

I want to know what sustains you 

From the inside 

When all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone 

With yourself,

And if you truly like the company you keep 

In the empty moments.

Please stop hurting each other, humans of Earth. Please love yourselves, so you can love everyone else.

**I use the term "God," as an all-encompassing word for a very difficult-for-humans-to-grasp incredibly gigantic concept. I also recognize not all humans feel that such a thing even exists, but I still use the term "God," because I think that even acknowledging the inner goodness of secular humanity is part of that...THING. Whatever that thing is. We are all in this together, we all need to hold one another's hearts gently, with non-judgmental love. When I say "God," that's pretty much what I mean.**