Imagine a World...
Beneath a shelter of peace
I had a different piece prepared for today, but the events of this past week/weekend in the Middle East, Ukraine, and here at home, filled with bombs and military parades, political murders and protests, raised these words of prayer/lament/hope for our pained little world.
Ufros aleinu sukkat shlomecha :וּפְרוֹשׂ עָלֵֽינוּ סֻכַּת שְׁלוֹמֶךָ
Source of Peace spread over us a shelter of peace.
And then more words came, as they often do when I am trying to articulate the deep feelings I cannot utter aloud because they just come out in wails.
I offer these words and the world they envision as my own prayer and commitment.
Perhaps you will imagine this world with me, beneath a shelter of peace.
Imagine a world…
…in which no woman would have to put down a baby bottle to rush for shelter from bombs.
…in which no child would have to put down their schoolbooks to hide.
…in which no man would have to trade his hammer for a gun.
…in which all our myriad passions, talents and energy could go towards building thriving families and communities, not weapons.
Imagine a world…
…in which we don’t fight over who won, but in which we all win.
…in which we don’t use our fears to punish, our words to maim, our ideologies to kill.
…in which justice is always tempered with mercy.
…in which truth is always balanced with love.
Imagine a world…
…in which we seek to love each other more, instead of hate each other more.
… in which life holds more value than death.
…in which peace, in all it’s forms, is more than a slogan.
…in which hope is more than a whisper.
Imagine a world…
…in which those we entrust to lead us, lead us with integrity.
…in which we trust each other enough to live together in harmony.
…in which we put our trust in that which we cannot name, but cannot live without.
…in which we trust ourselves to imagine— and create — a better world.
Dear Lauryn, when popular culture describes the future, it’s always some kind of dystopia or else it’s a utopia that turns out to be a dystopia. For people to imagine the world that you’re describing in your post is almost impossible. To imagine the world at peace seems to be beyond comprehension, but actually, it’s available right now. To see the stars at night or to hear the baby laugh is the shelter of peace. It is difficult for me to understand with the history of suffering in this world why can’t we choose non-suffering instead. Why is it so difficult it to give up division and cruelty to create a better world?
You just named what prophets weep for in silence and toddlers dream without knowing it.
This isn’t naïve. It’s necessary. Imagination isn’t a luxury in times like these. It’s resistance. And hope isn’t soft; it’s made of the same stuff as stars and stubborn grandmothers.
“Spread over us a shelter of peace.” Yes. But maybe also a kick in the soul to build one when heaven seems slow.
Thank you for not just lamenting the world as it is, but daring to speak the world as it could be.