Remember...

          The war in Iraq is turning into an emotional & philosophical civil war in the United States.  The demonstrations in Crawford, Texas are only symbolic of the private conversations at home and in the workplace.

          All households agree on one thing: "We support our soldiers."  But not everyone agrees on the decision to send soldiers to Iraq in the first place, or the decision to send more troops. 

          We were told Saddam had WMDs.  But troops have not found them, if they exist.  Yet, troops have found caches buried in the sand.  With sand everywhere, who knows what might still be buried there?

          We were told Saddam was a dangerous dictator who murdered his own people, and he did.  The rat was caught in his hole in the end.  He will stand trial and hopefully he will be executed.  At least part of his own country wishes they could execute him themselves.

          But Iraqis are in an emotional and philosophical civil war themselves.  Part is relieved the US troops are there; the other part schemes to kill US soldiers and anyone else they believe is either in control or "against" their beliefs.  That part of the population doesn't care whether they kill fellow-Iraqis, including women and children.  They don't value human life.  But the Iraqi 'civil war' runs deeper than whether troops of other countries should be in their home land.  Their 'war' is within themselves, and among their own people. 

        Yet, at the core, deep down, human beings seek the same things:  freedom, autonomy, control over one's own destiny, the ability to live out their lives in the best way for themselves and their families.   In different time zones, Iraqi and US citizens wake up to the sun, contend with surprises from the weather, and are subject to illness and death. 

      How different the world would be if people would look up at the clouds (or stars) and remember... remember how puny each of us is on this world... remember there is a lot that is much bigger than any of us.... remember that we all are connected....

       I realize there are folks who don't believe in any "God" per se.  Yet, even without a god, think about these things:

Can you create a sunrise or sunset?

Can you create a tropical storm?

Can you direct the wind?

Can you create an F-5 tornado?

Can you create a hurricane?

Can you make snow fall from the sky?

Can you make a silky dewdrop?  or one grain of gritty sand?

Can you make a lightning bolt hit a single tree?

Can you hear the prayers of a woman keeping vigil at her child's hospital bed?

Can you hear the millions upon millions of prayers silently spoken across the world in a single day?

            My prayer is that terrorists and bombers and murderers and anyone holding a grudge will today step out of their home, look at the sky, and simply, remember......