Peace and Love in the 6th Paragraph

      ARE WE READY TO RISE AGAIN?    

    'To me, and those who knew my parents, they seemed inseparable. Even if marriage mates are not told to love each other as one, I will love my husband as my flesh if I simply "copied" the way my mother loved my father. In like manner, my father loved her as wife, mother, sister, daughter, and friend. As their only daughter and child, I lacked nothing. Sadly, the wind of change blew my parents apart. I can't get over the thought of their divorce, and I don't want to live with it,' she said as she sobbed. Those were the words (not word for word, but a modified account of what she said and meant) of a seventeen-year-old girl who was resuscitated after a failed suicide attempt by an overdose with pills. 

    A few hours after she was stabilized, I was assigned to take her medical history i.e. her personal information, why she was at the hospital, and her general state of health. The information I got was more than needed; she even told me why her parents had a divorce. 'Only God knows how many times he expressed regret. He swore never to do such again but she could not forgive him, not even for me,' she said. The story goes that while her father was away for about a year, due to his job, he had an affair. Her mother was too hurt and mortified to forgive him when she found out. I realized there was more when she added: 'I knew I had to let the pills dissolve beneath my tongue, but I swallowed as much as I could. I wanted to kill me, not just it.' The picture: A girl so depressed by her parent's divorce that she sought solace in damaging habits — one of which got her pregnant.

    Our world can be likened to this family. It is full of persons who deeply hurt others; those who can't forgive regardless of how sorry their offenders are; those who allow the world's insanity rob them of their humanity. These people have one thing in common: They lack the element needed to make our world a better place. 

    Through the ages, this element has been demonstrated by all sorts of men. Martin Luther King Jnr, Mahatma Gandhi, Queen Esther of Persia, and Jesus Christ, to name but a few are regarded as some of the most remarkable people that ever lived because they were possessed of this element. On the other side of the coin, the history books of humanity are damned by disorders because some people chose to conceal, steal or lose this element. The year 1914, for example, will never be forgotten by history as this was when it documented one of its greatest woes ever. For the first time, all the major powers were at war. It was then that societal and political structures, hundreds of years in the making, came at a distance — every so often in a matter of weeks. Entire nations, in collaboration with resident populations, were assembled to hold up the war effort. Historians guesstimate that by the time World War I ended in 1918, more than 90% of the world’s population was involved. World War II, regarded as the deadliest conflict in human history, had more devastating effects. What were the outcomes of these wars? Outbreaks of different diseases, food shortages, an increase in homeless persons, an increase in crime rate, pollution, etc. In general, there was a raise in almost every condition that led to even more deaths.

    Although I am yet blessed with grey hairs, the antonym of war has taught me that it is not just the absence of an ill to contend with but the presence of the most essential element that makes us humans. Yes, peace is not just the absence of a sick state of affairs to deal with but the presence of love as we handle the situation. I really do not want to bore you with the details of the beginnings of the world wars; it is clear that those that instigated the wars and those that supported the wars lacked love. According to God’s best written gift to mankind, the bible: ‘Love is long-suffering and kind; love is not jealous; it does not brag, does not get puffed up; it does not behave indecently; it does not look for its own interests; it does not become provoked; it does not keep account of injury; it does not rejoice over unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:4-7, and the first part of 8).’ 

    If we are what we are inside, then our world is what it is inside — a major part that we constitute. So if we crave for peace in our world, we must be peaceful people. How? By letting love control who we are inside i.e. our thoughts, desires, abilities, attitudes, motives, goals, and personality.

    Did she give thought to the odds that her daughter may suffer as a result of her decision? Is she happy? These questions run through my mind whenever I think of the mother in my recounted story. At this point, love reminds me of one of Mahatma Gandhi’s most famous quotes that call attention to the importance of forgiveness: ‘An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.’ Our world has been run into a pit by many inwardly blind persons. My question is: Are we ready to rise again?