I read that the origin of war is in the heart. That once the heart is purified, honored, and all beings are held with the same love we ourselves would give a child, that fruitless wars would end.

I still firmly believe this. If the worst villain would have an epiphany of the heart, our world could drastically change. If 7 billion people on this planet could strive for betterment than we’d have a more peaceful world.

A moral approach is not a cop-out, it is a gate way to addressing conflicts and challenges.  By choosing peace, individuals and nations can create a better future for themselves and future generations.

A poem:

In the darkness of dispare,

Mother’s holding their children

with tender care,

Comes the death knell of sirens,

Whom even heavens giants cannot silence.

And yet the eyes of the children,

brown, green, hazel, blue quieten,

quiten with the soul-stirring yearning

for a world – a future – worth living.

And grown men with no remorse pander

shoot rockets, resources squander,

The future of the little ones,

the hope of the little ones.

I sit alone, and to mind comes and ancient,

Persian poem:

“Human beings are members of the whole,

In creation of one essence and soul,

If one member is inflicted with pain,

other members uneasy will remain,

If you have no sympathy for human pain,

The name of human you can not pertain.”

• Boshra Rasti 13 October 2023 (Last stanza – Sa’adi)