A Letter to Friends on the Pathway to Peace
February 1st, 2006 by sfuqua
At the turn of the new year, Mussie Hailu, Vice Chair of the United Religions Initiative’s (URI) Global Council, wrote a touching and inspiring letter to URI members worldwide. Though written specifically to the URI, its content is broad and I commend it to all participants in the global interfaith movement.
Dear Friends on the Pathway to Peace,
Greetings of peace and light. God's blessing as we begin this New
Year. May we be with his presence at deep levels of our thinking, feeling and
acting. There are so many inspiring stories and news to share with you.
One of the tremendous achievements of humanity in the 20th century is that
ordinary men and women like you and me are increasingly recognizing our
responsibility to help resolve issues of local, national and international
concern. It is with this in mind that we all join the United Religions
Initiative to promote enduring, daily interfaith cooperation, to end
religiously motivated violence and to create cultures of peace, justice and
healing for the Earth and all living beings.
As Gandhi so beautifully said, we should “be the change we want to
see in the world.” If we can change ourselves, we can change the world.
It everyone does his or her bit, together we can accomplish our common dream
which is a better and peaceful world in which all humankind can live in peace
and harmony along with nature and all other living beings.
Our world is continuously changing, and in this changing world we
can't remain as we are, nor can we go back to conditions that are now
behind us. We can only move forward, but not on the same path which has been
leading us into war, conflict, violence, hunger, discrimination, poverty,
disrespect, hate and all the other negative elements. We should not go on
living in crisis and conflict. The world need not remain violent, and
economically, socially and ecologically unsustainable. We can progress
towards harmony, cooperation, livable communities, and a value system that
nourishes and sustains us and all things that live on this Earth. For this to
happen we need to follow the Pathway to Peace—a path which lead as from war
to peace, from killing each other to co-existence, from disrespect to
honoring each other, from hate to love, from despair to hope, from darkness
to light, from being selfish to living for the sake of others and from
revenge to forgiveness. For me, URI is this Pathway to Peace. We need to be
guided by the Golden Rule and Spiritual values. Values like
A love of Truth—Essential for a just, inclusive and progressive
society. A sense of Justice—Recognition of the rights and needs of all.
A spirit of Cooperation—Based on the principle of right human
relationships. A sense of personal Responsibility—for family,
community, country, the world and nature. Serving the common
Good—through the sacrifice of selfishness. What is good for all is good
for each one.
Some of the problems our world is suffering, especially in developing
countries, are war, unemployment, widening income gaps, environmental
degradation, HIV/AIDS, poverty, climate change, lack of basic needs. Though
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 25.1 says "Everyone
has the right to a standard of living which is adequate for the health and
well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing
and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in
the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other
lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control," the reality is
far from this. Though we have started the journey, we have a long way to
go.
By acting wisely, effectively and collectively through URI, and by
engaging others, we can create a more peaceful and better world for all. It
is already happening. Recent research on world conflict has demonstrated that
there are fewer armed conflicts now than in 1992. With so many problems in
the world, we often lose track of what is positive and so we are not aware
that the work we are doing is making a difference.
I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your dedication to
the work of URI. One of the most important aspects of choosing to work within
an association like URI is the fact that it is an opportunity to work in a
group, rather than as an individual alone. A group like ours represents true
unity-in-diversity—a unity focused by a common vision and the
principles through which that vision is realized.
Our work is most powerful when we work as a team. As you know, there are
cooperation circles throughout the world who are working tirelessly to make
this world a better place for all. This is something we can collectively
celebrate.
Thank you for being with URI on this Pathway to Peace. Together we can
make it.
May Peace Prevail in our Mind
May Peace Prevail in our Heart
May Peace Prevail in our Family
May Peace Prevail in our Country
May Peace Prevail on Earth
Mussie Hailu
Vice Chair of the United Religions
Initiative
Thank you for this wonderful message! Individuals embodying their truths working in circles of cooperation are indeed the path to the future we want to enflesh.