WATCHING THE TEARS

Dear Friends,

I watched with sadness on television today as President Obama came to Texas to talk to those who had gathered in shock and grief to bury and mourn the dead of the tragic events of Fort Hood.

I remember once a quote, "Beware the man for whom we make life not worth living." How does one man's life become so not worth living that he would make a choice to destroy not only his own but so many of his own soldiers serving to save others?

The choice to be a Muslim today must be a very scary one. The choice to be Muslim, American, and in the military must be even more difficult - all those life issues coming at you for sorting out; politics, race, creed, religion, philosophy, ethics, your very way of life. How fragmenting it all must be to the mind, heart, soul and spirit.

I think when we make a choice for war, we make a choice for fragmentation just like the bullets, bombs, and all the weapons make a fragmentation of each target they make their mark upon. There just has to be a better way. I pray we can each use words of love and tools of wholeness for a world of harmony, peace, and beauty.

Here is a reprint of a blog I wrote after seeing a young man make these incredible efforts to put his life back together after his own tragic wounds in the Iraq war. Read this and ask your self if you could have the courage to go on if your life were to be shattered the way this soldier's life was shattered - and now the lives of so many others. Then pray that we all have the courage to go forward.

How brave the human spirit can be. I saw a young man on one of the morning shows. He had been injured in the war with Iraq; both his legs were amputated. In his eyes I could see the sorrow but I could also see a soul filled with courage and light. How amazing to have so much taken away and yet still focus on making the most of what surrounds him in his quest to survive. He walks, he drives, he dates, he creates a world of opportunities. There is no bitterness in his words, no resentment in his smile, no revenge in his attitude. Instead, he inspires, he jokes about how his "private parts still work" and how he sees marriage and children in his future. He puts on his leather gloves, he manipulates the hardware that replaces the flesh he once could be so sure of.

He talks about "walking on stilts." I do not believe in war but I do believe in the honesty and honor of the warrior spirit and this young man's pure heart who went to carry out his destiny to do what he believed would defend and protect others so they too could follow their own pathways of truth.

Here indeed is the angel messenger, a living portrait of the dichotomy of battle, in seeking to free and protect others, he looses his own life as he once knew it. I ask with all my heart that he will continue to find the wings of support, love and respect for his courage to set the example of what it must mean to live in the moment, trust in spirit and continue going forward one day and then another and then another.

Light and love,
Amber Silverstar