Last Tuesday, April 7, 2026, the President of the United States threatened to destroy a civilization, with a barely veiled reference to nuclear weapons, and the Vice President of the United States, who was in Hungary campaigning for a despot who is a Russian stooge, seconded the threat.
This is unacceptable. No US leader should remain in office after such threats — both should and, hopefully, will be impeached immediately and removed from office.
That appalling behavior and the global destabilization that it is part of is one of two reasons why I am doing this nontopical blog post today (Larry the Cat was for fun and appreciation!).
The other reason is that the Pope has invited the world to a vigil for peace today. This is an oasis I would like to share with you for a little while as the world goes to hell all around us.
Here is an interesting article about the Pope’s approach of engagement, regarding matters of concern, without either alignment or opposition.
And for what little they are worth, here are some thoughts from this Theravadan Buddhist:
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Our biggest day, Vesakh, comes in May, but the 2024 celebration in Indonesia was especially meaningful. No, world peace has not come, but how many more sparks of light now are among us!
How can I express Peace in words? And without words, how can I find it?
Let the rain fall. Peace is right here and I am walking toward it all the time.
- Peace is not a negative quantity. It is the counterweight that not only balances but also outweighs all the negatives of this world. It is right here, in front of each of us in our life, all the time. Walk toward it.
- Peace is not measured in coinage of any sort. It is not so cheap and shoddy as that. Peace exists on its own, without reference to money or power — can you imagine that?
- Peace is not the absence of hatred. It is one — just one — of the fruits that begin to come after we somehow manage to accept the fact of Good* in this universe; accept that we are badly flawed; and then bow our proud little heads before that Goodness which is greater than us…repeatedly, courageously, sometimes desperately, and eventually with true humility and a sincere desire to be good. Try it, and discover that you are not alone after all.
Metta, and peace!
* There are many concepts of Good, only two of which are relevant to this post: the Pope’s and, on a merely personal level, mine (I refer you to the book “Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness” for an authoritative discussion of it in plain English by a Sri Lankan/American monk, the Ven. Henepola Gunaratana Mahathera, and if you are curious and want to explore Theravadan Buddhism further, Access to Insight helped me get started, waaaay back in the 1990s. A topical note: I have read that one of the site’s founders was a geologist!)
Featured image: Wikipedia, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Flight To Wonder 