TO BE OR NOT…                                                                            by Aliana Alani ©2017

This is a long read so hang in there with me.

As I was counting my blessings yesterday morning, I found myself giving thanks for living in a relatively peaceful country. I say relatively because we all have little chaos gremlins spinning around in our minds from time to time encouraging us to bitch about this or that, whether this or that is even worthy of bitching about (gremlins, you might remember, don’t actually care about worthiness and are not known for being discriminatory at all). So it’s easy enough to get on that bandwagon without really thinking about it and well, give out, as they say. Giving out being a golden road to heaven for a gremlin.

That said, Canada is a decent country. Most people generally do get along. We have a high percentage that believe in kindness as a path to well-being, like the idea of a healthy environment, and would prefer dialogue to out & out warfare. Sure there are things to change, things we could get better at, things we should get better at, and yes there is the issue of the weather – this is where you are to picture intense chill and vast amounts of white flakes falling for far too many months at a time. Clearly I am not one of those who love to ski.

So there I am basking in the soft air of blessedness and tranquility. Grateful all the way to those maple syrup rafters for being in a peace-filled land. Until I turned on my computer and read the latest news.

Now, I am not one for getting political on this site. I admit there have been fleeting moments when I have dipped the tips of toes into those waters, but generally no. This is a site for soft words, for the poetic, for blossoming gardens, for life built anew in beauty and love.

So forgive me as I step outside of that realm. It is precisely because of that realm – the realm of a peaceful loving world – that I do so.

WHEN A MAN IN THE ROLE OF LEADER OF A LARGE COUNTRY dares to say, in front of a vast group of other leaders and representatives from many countries in the world, that he would not think twice (if provoked of course) of TOTALLY DESTROYING a country – this should be a warning to us all to stand up and say – Not On My Watch, thank you very much! Why? Because if we don’t, if it becomes okay to blatantly speak of obliterating another country, especially in this nuclear age, as if it were all a computer game to be won or lost by the best little twinkie in town, then we are dangerously close to crossing a line that we, as a human species, may not recover from – certainly not in this incarnation.

I am not naive. I realize that one country desiring to take over another is not new (it may not be good but it’s certainly not new). Nor is it new to have despots clamoring for power. Look around. We seem to be full of them these days. I get that in many ways this is but history repeating itself. But must we? Must we repeat this? Have we learned nothing from the suffering and devastation of the past, let alone what’s going on right now?  Have we learned nothing from Hiroshima? Do we honestly think that we could have a war (no matter the excuses we give for its rightness), obliterating a country (and its entire people by the way) full of nuclear energy, perhaps using nuclear weapons to do it, and not have it affect the rest of the world? Do we think we can get off scot-free from such actions? Clearly the Man in the Role of Leader of a Large Country thinks he can, if he’s thinking about it at all!

And that begs the question – does anyone, role of leader or no, have the right to make such choices – choices that could, probably would, intimately affect the rest of humanity and the planet? Clearly the Man in the Role of thinks he does. And that is a most worrisome thing.

SO IT LOOKS LIKE IT’S UP TO US.

If we truly desire a world of harmony and love, then we must do everything we can to bring that into being, and from the looks of things, we must do it now.

Each in our own way, we can stand up and say, NO – Not in my World – Not on my Watch!  But what about the positive – the YES. What can we do there? As is often the case, it’s the small yet constant that makes a difference. Those little thoughts and actions that build like droplets in an ever-growing wave. You don’t think they’re going anywhere until suddenly you turn around and, poof, there’s your new life. In this case, a blossoming peaceful world.

So now would be a good time to envision it within your heart and mind – make it into a grand movie that you delight in watching again and again. Cultivate the still point within each and every day so that you bring as much peace to the equation as you can – remember, every moment of peace sends a ripple into the world and makes a difference. Water the garden of your life and world as if it were your child and you the parent nurturing it into wellness and exquisite being. Speak words that encourage love and compassion, to those you know and those you don’t know. Whatever you do in your day, do it with love. Smile often. Laugh much. Stand up and be counted. Write about it. Paint it. Share stories. Whatever is your talent for helping this world be better, use it. And as the old adage says, ‘treat people the way you would want to be treated’.

This is a world crying out for love.  Dare to love it back. Please.

And remember – deep within, YOU are the stuff of dreams. The love that passes all understanding. The divine flame that burns eternal and everlasting – YOU.

You are needed. We are all needed. And we are needed now.

NAMASTE, and thank you.