song sparrow . . . if only we too
staked our our territory
with song
War. How many times in the past have we vowed, “Never again”?
The ground of Europe and countless other lands is saturated with blood, and with the powerful energies of fear, anger, hatred, despair. What effect has this on the people who remain, and those who come after?
Then there is the destruction of the Earth’s resources, some renewable, some not, in the ruins of cathedrals, bridges, ships, planes, vehicles, shops, industries, and homes, that must all be replaced. The loss of cultivated crops and wild foods, leaving millions of humans and wild and domestic creatures to starve to death.
Not to mention the enormous loss of human lives in combat, and from landmines whose deadly presence comtinues to maim and kill long after combat ceases.
When will we learn to match our actions with our words, so that together we can say, once and for all, “Never again!”
Sheila Weaver, Gibsons
