I’m on my way to Rome, the first stop on my September peace quest. I’ll spend the night in a monastery, then the next two nights in Assisi, to centre myself for the rest of the trip.
Walls are the metaphor for this trip. I’ve been fascinated by walls since my trip to Israel and Palestine last November. The separation wall made a big impact on me, and I’ve been dreaming of...
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Should I throw love over the wall instead of stones?
Chocolate kisses
Valentine hearts
Gifts on the strings of balloons?
Will you take the chocolates for stones
Respond with tear gas
Burn my eyes and nose?
I want to tear down this wall
Look into your eyes
And know you as friend, not enemy
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I want to dance at the wall in beautiful protestCast a vision of the future in its shadow today
We could hear the same music, dance to the same beatBut I couldn’t see you, our hands couldn’t meet
We could set up a webcam, make a window in the wallI’d rather you open it, I want to walk tallthrough the gate that encloses me now like a prisonLet this vision of the future shine...
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Modise Phekouyane used to be an angry, hateful young man who considered Nelson Mandela a traitor. Today, he embodies forgiveness and reconciliation so that neither he, nor his former oppressors, will remain victims of apartheid.
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I live in a cage with very prevalent wallsthat block me in and hide the sun
I rail at them, throw rocks and stonesMust you respond with bombs?
You hold the power of whether I can wash, or workWhether I can skype with my aunt, or visit the day of her birth
You say yes to my brother, and no to meMust you put my parents in such misery?
I rail at the wall with rocks and stonesYou hold the power...
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Father Michael Lapsley is one of my heroes. I met him in Toronto years ago, when my AfricaFiles friends invited him to share his experiences. I was deeply moved by this man's ability to forgive, while he faces reminders of the assassination attempt on his life constantly. The letter bomb that was intended to kill him took both his hands and one eye.
Father Lapsley has adapted very well physically...
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Today is Yom HaShoah, the annual day of remembrance for the victims of the Holocaust. This morning in Israel, two minutes of silence were observed throughout the country. Via video, I saw the streets and boardwalks that I traversed four months ago become strangely still. Listening to the sound of the siren, I imagined its wail, and our prayers, rising like the souls of the six million victims to...
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It's Maundy Thursday, the day Christians celebrate Jesus' last supper with his disciples. This is the meal during which Jesus took an ordinary loaf of bread, blessed it, and proclaimed it his broken body, given for them. They didn't know at the time that he was foretelling his death 12 hours later.
This morning, looking forward to Easter, I put on Christian music and logged into work. I should do...
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It is a tragic day for Canada. Today, Corporal Nathan Cirillo was killed while standing guard at the Canadian War Memorial in Ottawa. The gunman, Canadian Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, was later killed in a firefight in the Canadian parliament. He has been identified as a radicalised Muslim convert.
On Monday, two Canadian soldiers were struck by a car in Quebec; one of them later died from his injuries...
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I’m so excited! I just rented a venue for an event that I’ve been dreaming about for years. It is a momentous, and I hope life-changing, day.
In fact, the whole day has been unusual. I had trouble sleeping last night, but instead of fretting, I played relaxing music, lit scented candles, prayed and listened to Scriptures. I finally fell into a peaceful sleep, but unusually, I kept waking up...
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Last comment by Carole on Wednesday, September 16, 2015 - 05:12.