The Insanity of Humanity and Praying for the World
When tragedy hits home we pray for our loved ones and feel the pain of the insanity of humanity. Yesterday Cathy’s brother was brutally murdered by bullets from the gun of his peers. You might ask, who is Cathy? Cathy is a mother, daughter, sister, lover and friend. Her family spans across continents. You see, her brother was murdered in her family’s homeland of Peru. Last night her family scrambled to buy tickets and catch a 2 am flight out of the country. Her citizenship here in America does not preclude her experience of violence right here, where three months ago on August 29th her brother-in law was shot 4 times and is currently recovering in a NYC hospital, where she, her mother, son, and sister all live. The reality that they still straddle two lands where the same violent energy claimed her brother on October 29th is a tragedy.
This violent energy knows no boundaries or borders. The impact of this trauma did not only affect Cathy, but her entire family and extended family including my daughter Imani. Imani and Cathy share families in common in an urban city where violence is endemic to and pervasive for young men like Cathy’s brother and Imani’s husband. Both men have been deprived of experiencing the presence of their children, one forever and another for a period of time while recuperating from unbelievable surgeries and tremendous strain on the women in their lives.
The repercussions vibrate and reverberate like a stone thrown into the pond. The families who are struggling economically on both continents now have to find the resources to be with their loved ones and assist in their transitions in death and life. The thousands of dollars and human energy that must be gathered to have mothers, sisters, brothers and nephews realign their lives in new configurations, due to untimely loss is unquestionably a hole carved into the human spirit. However, all those who are affected must find ways to move on with life as they grieve, hold on to a job, raise babies born and unborn, move and store their belongings, ask for help to bridge their lives while reorganizing their souls,
The world is in need of constant prayer. I today, have a more reverent appreciation for the work of monks, sages, nuns, shamans and other spiritual practitioners who are in monasteries, churches, forest and other sacred places and who are in constant prayer for the plight of humanity. The shooting of my son-in-law and its tremendous impact on all of our family had us seeking and asking for prayers for his recovery. Praying is an energy producing force that goes beyond the boundaries and borders created by man. This force keeps the world teetering on its axis as the restoring of balance becomes the goal. The earth is manifesting her own response to humanity’s insanity. I invite us to think about our own role in the imbalance and the shadows of our own being that create the cyclic energy of violence and trauma. We each have a responsibility to breach the silence of our own experiences through a healing dialogue with our families, friends, neighbors, communities and the larger society. In this way we can assist the prayers of those praying women and men to restore balance and sanity to humanity.
Thank you for your Time, Energy and Attention to reading my thoughts.
