Living in a Broken World

LIVING IN A BROKEN WORLD


Never before has the sry for peace been so great.
Never before has the danger been so immense.
Today our earth, our beautiful earth,
could be totally shattered,
ruined by these weapons.
Today conflict is too dangerous,
for all life could be destroyed.
With all the vast sophistication in our weaponry
we are at the mercy
of a momentary error
in human judgment or technical functioning.
We know that and are filled with fear.

Yet everywhere armed conflict is rampant:
terrorism of all sorts is increasing.
People are imprisoned, tortured or disappear.
Dictatorship, whether marxist or military,
are crushing people,
preventing them from speaking,
taking from them their human rights.
And there is the weak and painful cry
of the unborn child aborted
or of the unwelcome child with disabilities.

And, more and more, those who were crushed or put aside
are rising up in anger and frustation,
in armed revolt
to claim their place, their land, their right to live.

Is violence the only solution?
Is there any other way?
For violence always engenders violence.
How often the ideals of liberation
Are swallowed up in
more terrible violence,
more total oppression!

Can there be another way to peace? (JV)