CARPE
DIEM
Today...is
an
opportunity
rosprynn
© 2005
Today
before
my first
coffee I
was
crying.
I woke
to the
news of
the
bombings
in
London.
Some of
you
already
know I
have
many
family
and
friends
still in
London.
I
haven't
managed
to talk
with any
of them.
But...but
as I
listen
to the
calls
from the
politicians
for
"resolve
in
fighting
the
terrorists",
and
"standing
firm", I
wonder
if
anybody
realizes
what a
golden
opportunity
we ALL
have
been
given
today.
You have
to know
my heart
breaks
for all
those
closely
affected
by
today's
events.
Some
people,
on their
way to
work,
will
never
make it
home to
their
families.
The
truth of
the
matter
is, we
are ALL
diminished
by these
acts, in
the same
way I
believe
we are
all
responsible
for the
murders
done
around
the
world,
in our
names.
Since
the
original
family
on
earth,
man
seems to
have
decided
that
taking
up arms
against
our
fellow
man, is
the way
to
resolve
conflicts.
Have we
learned
nothing?
Surely
by now
all of
us have
seen
that
killing
each
other
doesn't
work.
The
events
in
London
were
inevitable
given
how the
people
of Iraq
have
lived
with
their
own
'London'
every
day for
far too
long
now. I
was
talking
to an
American
friend
this
morning.
A woman
I love
dearly,
and one
who
supports
her
President
in his
'war on
terrorism'.
I told
her I
pray
daily
that her
beloved
sons
never
have to
go to
Iraq
waving
the US
flag as
their
job
description
encompasses
the
killing
of other
mothers'
sons.
I come
from a
long
line of
war
'heroes',
but I
have
also
seen the
dark
side of
what war
and
conflict
does to
the
human
family.
As I sit
here I
can look
upon a
framed
picture
I have
of one
of my
forefathers
who was
highly
decorated
for his
efforts
on
behalf
of the
Union
Jack,
but I
can tell
you for
sure
that no
medal
compensates
for the
burden a
soldier
carries,
even if
he
returns
the
hero. I
was
married
to a
Vietnam
war
hero,
and I
saw
first
hand the
weight
he
carried
on a
daily
basis. I
don't
know any
Iraqi
mothers
personally,
but even
as their
sons and
daughters
die for
'the
cause',
I KNOW,
as every
mother
does,
the
agony
they
breathe
every
day.
And it
doesn't
have to
be this
way.
Amidst
the
chaos on
the
streets
of
London
today,
one
woman
said, "
Why do
we have
to fight
like
this?
Why
can't we
speak?"
Seems to
me the
time for
killing
each
other is
OVER.
Today,
yes this
very
day, I
wonder
if among
all the
rhetoric
and
beating
of
chests
in macho
fashion,
there is
one
brave
politician
who will
hear
what
that
woman
said. I
have to
believe
that in
amongst
all the
insane
noise
demanding
retribution,
the
human
family
can
speak
together,
find a
common
ground,
and have
peace
break
out.
I am one
of the
original
hippies,
and
while I
may have
set
aside
most of
the
trappings
of that
long ago
life,
the
underpinnings
of those
times
have
stayed
with me.
I still
believe
that if
we all
stood
together,
and
demanded
our
politicians
"speak...not
fight",
peace
COULD
break
out.
Today,
we are
given
yet
another
chance.
Are we
going to
waste
it?