On the bombing of the Boston Marathon, April 15, 2013

Maybe,  just maybe, we should now imagine ourselves at a wedding, birthday party, religious service, or community gathering in another country, one that is not at peace. We gather together, nonetheless, to celebrate, with our families and friends, things that are important to us... and then a bomb is dropped, or is stepped on, or is accidentally or purposefully detonated at our gathering. 

Is it from a foreign country that bombs gatherings with the purpose of killing alleged terrorists? Drone strikes kill 49 civilians for every 1 terrorist (http://www.policymic.com/articles/15340/drone-strikes-in-pakistan-have-killed-thousands-of-civilians). Is it a disgruntled member of our own country? Think of the Irish Republican Army bombing Belfast and London. (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/294148/Irish-Republican-Army-IRA)  Is it just somebody with an axe to grind, or a cause to promote? Suicide bombings take place nearly every day, all over the world, creating massive carnage and demoralizing the public. (http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/explore?tag=suicide-bombing).

Maybe now is the time to imagine with empathy those civilians who are counted as merely "collateral damage" in someone else's war. They are not faceless foreigners. They are us. We are them.

What people do out of anger or fear is not isolated to just themselves anymore, if it ever was so limited. Everyone seems determined to cause as much damage as possible along the way. We must wage PEACE with as much determination and love as they are using fear and hate. 

We have to be the Gandhis, the MLKs, the Mother Teresas, the Rosa Parks, the Cesar Chavezes.... only by waging peace can we stop war.