12/26/2023
This beautiful piece of art is from Palestinian artist Rawalpindi Anani.
This holiday season I have not felt like celebrating much as I think about those in dire need of peace in their lands. Now more than ever, my@prayers have been for a new consciousness of love, equity, justice,
equality, human rights and truth.
As I look at this painting, I am reminded of our sharedness; none of us comes into the world without a Mother; we all start as babies, innocent and reliant on those around us to tend to our needs until we can move through the world independently, but even then, we still need community and help. However, we have differences as humans, cultures, races, and traditions. Though they may differ from our own, these aspects should be respected and appreciated as part of our and others’ human experience.
The birth in consciousness I speak of is one in which we no longer listen to the voices and narratives that say they know who is worthy of life and who is not.
Instead we listen to our hearts that say a Mother is mourning, a child is hurt, and a human is in need.
At the core of humanity’s heart, all life is interconnected.
Therefore, when I think of the countless humanitarian organizations with no political ties or gains please for a ceasefire and access to aid while they try to support someone’s mother, father, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, cousin, child and baby go unheeded, we know that the problem is dire and that a change is needed immediately.
According to the United Nations, genocide is defined as any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, as such, killing member of a group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of a group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, imposing measures intended to prevent births within a group and forcibly transferring children of the group to other.
Now is always the best time to make a change so that we can put an end to the destruction that is happening in Gaza, The Congo, Sudan and other parts of the world. Everyone deserves freedom.
