We have been busy with work. Learning a second language, building relationships with those on the MCC team here in Nicaragua, with our host families and with the people that we have met along the way. We have also lost some of the ability to stay connected with the greater world at large.
Thus, last Wednesday, I took great joy in the fact that I could turn on a computer in order to observe what has been occurring around the world over the last few weeks. I read about the financial crisis in Europe, the still slumping economy of the US, Cain's decision to drop out of the presidential race in the states, the fight over the displaying of nativity scenes in Los Angeles, the troubles sprouting up in Russia and Putin's heated responses to them and the continuation of the Arab Spring. I guess I could say that I was not overly shocked to read what my eyes were seeing.
But, then I read that the U.S. was actually pulling out of Iraq, that the women and men that have been fighting for so long are coming home to their families. Of course war will not cease and there is no telling what the coming events in Iraq and the surrounding area will be following this action.
Of course there are positive and negative opinions. Some argue that the cost of the war, not only monetary, but also in the lives lost and relationships broken was well worth it, others point out that the likelihood of lasting change and peace in the region will show the whole operation to be a failure.
It is my hope that the people of the world can learn from this latest scale of grandiose war. That as Created beings we can reach for and obtain a higher sense of unity and love that was shown to us in the small gift of a young boy born in a manger and sacrificed on a cross. That we can look to this example, to this exemplary life of the incarnate as another option, a much more difficult one, but one of which we are called to bear.
So celebrate the lives saved, the Christmas´s that will be shared with your loved ones recently returning or with those no longer fearing the call of duty that would come, but also take time to remember those lost and ask yourself what you can do to build peace in this world.
