Let this be the moment that defines us

24Apr09

For over three decades, we have bombed and shot each other, split our tears and shed them only for ‘our own’, split our joys and celebrated as ‘their’ mothers, wives and children wept. This war will not end when the last shot is fired.
Let us not wait till that last shot is fired… for tomorrow… for the ‘war’ to ‘end’… to realise that we are but branches of the same family tree. Those who would have been our friends, and relatives if only we had not let murderous guns separate us, lie without shelter, unclothed, maimed, bloody and hopeless. They need us now. Our ability to fight and destroy has been established, now let us prove our capacity to forgive, heal and rebuild.
So even while those on many shores protest and shout slogans, let us unite in our own communities, and use the power already devolved to us – not by any constitution or law, but by our inalienable inheritance – to collect clothes, food and other essentials for our fellow countrymen and women and children. Perhaps we still need a “political solution” for the “ethnic conflict”… perhaps warm embraces and sincere smiles would heal the less conspicuous wounds… and a show of gratitude for the sacrifices borne by those who have had to face the violence on our behalf.

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Filed under: activism   |  1 Comment
Tags: as, one, stand, united, we