As a peace activist opposed to war, and later as a bagpiper serving with the Vietnam Vets honor guard in Florida and Texas, I played at many military funerals. None is a happy occasion. The saddest moment, for me, was the flag folding ceremony. This reflection is drawn from those rituals. Sam Gould's poem, Don't Stand to be Recognized, comes to mind.
Radical love stops a stranger on the street and invites her to God’s eternal banquet. Radical love stays up all night, plotting ways to make you laugh.
Based on excerpts from Dag Hammarskjold’s Markings
Our work of peace must begin with the private world of each one of us. To build for man a world without fear, we must be without fear. To build a world of justice we must be just. And how can we fight for liberty if we are not free in our own minds? Dag Hammarskjold
"You don't know when you will die, celebrate tonight, you don't know when light will dawn, celebrate the storm..."