Let’s find peace through love and compassion

How can we find peace in a climate of fear and hopelessness? When there is distrust and hate? Love is the basis of any real peace. In fact, it is the basis of any noble emotion. When there is no love in our hearts, there can be no acceptance of people who are unlike us. Baser emotions then take over and consume us, gnawing at the core of our being. Peace is thus choked in the melee of conflicted feelings. We cast away people in need as we disregard and throw out the good that is embedded within us.

We shrink as people and personalities. We become self-seeking and unkind to others. We are unwilling to reconcile and forgive. We turn our backs on those in need. How else could we explain the plight of 22 million people who have been forced to leave their homes and lands? What happened to our common humanity that we have tainted their dignity and dragged it in the mud? We have let them be swept by the tides and currents of the vast oceans as we fought wars and plundered nations and homes. We have left them to fate and the ensuing tumult while we sit in judgement, unwilling to help, and uncaring of their well-being. We have been spoilt for choice as we celebrate our achievements and revel in festivities even as we drown in envy, jealousy, malice and pride. Pope Francis, in his speech, has pricked our conscience. Service to humans is service to God, we are told. There is no greater good than that. It calls for a warm and gentle heart, that gives, that cares, and flings open doors to unfortunate people, who are flesh and blood and full of feelings. Francis also mentioned the plight of the Palestinians, who have been driven out of their homes by an oppressive regime. A two-state solution is the best way out of the imbroglio, the Vatican believes. Palestinians and Israelis can live side by side as neighbours, if they talk and resolve their differences. It calls on us to reflect, reform and reconcile our differences through love. Only then can we find lasting and sustainable peace and joy.