REFLECTIONS
PEACE AND LOVE, TOO?
Teresita Bacani-Oropilla, MD
I
t has been a long hot summer, interspersed
with intermittent torrential rains that created flash floods. For some time, climate
change and man’s contribution to it dominated
the news. In an era of instant communication
however, local complaints of the extreme heat
and humidity inconveniencing a planned barbecue party seemed so trivial in comparison to
other news flashing through the TV screens.
Pundits arguing over the pros and cons of the
Iran Nuclear Deal, the plans and antics of politicians to favor their
candidacies, the deathly toll of the fires in the West, the exciting
alliances with the start of the football season and the initial anxieties
of parents and children with school openings, the ever-growing
national debt, and much more. All of these claim our attention.
Fifty years hence, all of these happenings will be history. Our
memories being rather short, the next generation will barely remember and probably refer to this period as “The Last Great European
Migration,” “The Global Nuclear Period,” “The Seething Melting
Pot,” or “The Era of Common Sense and Peace” depending on how
humanity deals with the problem now.
Meantime, in Europe and the Middle East, thousands of people in
mass migrations are leaving their ancestral lands to flee from violence
and seek a safer place for their families to survive. Some countries
reject them for fear of being overwhelmed or overburdened. Others,
for humanitarian reasons, offer to share their land and abundance
and encourage others to do the same with mixed results.
An old remembered tale tells of a boy with a bundle of wood
who had to start a fire to warm himself. Not until he untied the
bundle into little sticks was he successful in starting a flame that
turned into a decent fire. Could we be those little sticks that warm
the little corners that we live in?
So here we are in a safer place on this earth, trying to take care
of needy persons that we see. Healing their ills, prolonging their
lives, giving them comfort while elsewhere, people by the thousands, children and elderly included, are barred from being free,
are hungry, displaced, pursued by enemies that have destroyed their
livelihood and way of life and would be grateful for a place to rest
their heads in peace.
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