Monday, January 5, 2009

Peace

As I write this entry, Israeli troops continue to bomb the Palestine community living in the Gaza Strip a thousand miles away from the Philippines. Closer to home, in the very city where I live, a girl (who for association and affinity is an acquaintance), 7 months pregnant, was found murdered at the backseat of her car, a gunshot wound on her forehead. With her was her boyfried who suffered the same fate.

W.A.M. starts off 2009 with an appeal for peace during a time when respect for life and human dignity doesn't seem to matter at all. In a world where claiming innocent lives is the norm and where violence can be justified by human law, philosophy and self-preservation, we are called to take a stand and be the voices for those who are prevented from speaking, for those who speak but are not heard, for those who choose to remain silent but in their silence speak. We rally behind the oppressed and the marginalized, the innocent people who are caught in the crossfire or found dead at the backseat of their cars, for we see ourselves in them and find in their moments of outmost defenseless how we, too, can be defenseless, voiceless and alone.

And now, in the silence of death, amid the blaring sirens or the murmurs of onlookers, we lay the dead to rest with the hope that one day, the peace that so eluded them could be the same peace that will redeem us who are left behind.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

let us pray for peace. good thing they called out a ceasefire right now. i saw the photo of a 14yo boy lying on the street with his head covered in blood, his eyes still open..it just sent a chill to my bones. that is the horror of war.

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