“Every moment is a fresh beginning.”
— T.S. Eliot
For the last 40 years, I have marked time with the turning of the seasons. These dates have become even more important since I claimed my dedication to Peace. My work now is to discern and accept each season’s invitation to explore its particular Peace… the Peace of the cycle, the spiral, the Peace in which we dwell. The constancy of the Peace of the seasons is a powerful encouragement to me that if there can be Peace in Earth, there can be Peace on Earth.
Sometime last fall, I realized that this March 20th will, in addition to being the Spring Equinox, be the five-year anniversary of our world’s shut down with Covid. Along with that realization came another. We had never officially marked the ending of that period, which changed not only our personal lives but also our communal ones.
Many of us carry scars from that time period. On both conscious and subconscious levels, the pandemic changed who we are and how we live. To my knowledge, there has never been a public acknowledgement of the private and national mourning. In 2022, I attempted to assemble a Memorial for the people we had lost to Covid and for our forever changed ways of life. Because I was unable to secure the funding necessary for that memorial, the opportunity slipped away. The absence of public recognition makes it difficult to find Peace. Suitable ritual can soothe hearts that remain damaged and broken.
In the same way, we have never communally acknowledged our return to “life as usual” or attempted to discern what that might mean for us. I’m not certain most of us have personally acknowledged that return. Life kept moving forward and we kept struggling to keep up. Many of us have never taken the time to focus on acting rather than reacting — knowing that with such a big event, we will need time to digest and decide how to move forward in beneficial ways. Sometimes I feel caught in the Mad Hatter’s mania about being late to a very important date without any idea what that date is or should be. We hear a lot about the many ways we underestimate how Covid changed our lives. It has taken me a bit to realize I have heard no communal and few personal conversations about how we would like to structure our lives post Covid. What if we dreamed a dream?
What if we decided to celebrate March 20th as the beginning date of an invitation to create Peaceful communities along our Susquehanna River? Why shouldn’t we, who live along this ancient waterway, become those who build intentional Peaceful communities on its shores? As we emerge into spring, what would it be like to emerge into Peace? Our Nation is in turmoil and at odds. But we are neighbors who live in small communities who must support one another through the hard times. How can we create Peaceful community to support and nurture one another alongside this ancient river? I’m open to any and all suggestions.
Covid sent us indoors. Politics are dividing us. Changes have left us confused. All of this is true but what if we decided to emerge from the chaos and design Peaceful community that had a place for all of us? What if we maximized our small rural advantages and created Peaceful community, supported the organizations that support us and neighbors, became part of a sustaining, welcoming network — one that focused on the best of our humanity and disregarded our differences?
We take for granted the places and people we experience daily. Covid jolted us into appreciation for the people and places we love. The risk of losing the things we love deepens our appreciation for them. We are at risk of losing some of our ways of life in the valley. We went from that shut down to a world where we might lose relationships we cherish to differing ideals and political beliefs. Rather than creating a place of welcome, we have come to distrust the stranger and look with skepticism upon our neighbors.
We seem to have forgotten that we have choices about this. We can redefine the ways we interact with one another. We could listen deeply and try to understand one another’s dreams and fears. I could be a place of Deep Peace for you, and you for me. When things fall apart, we could be those who provide the net to catch one another and keep us safe. We could weave that for each other and for communities along our beautiful river valleys. We could bear witness to the world that we can emerge from those battles, scarred, wizened, differing, and yet, still, so happy to come together. I believe in Peace. I believe in us. Will you explore with me? Will you wonder about how life could be different if we were to choose this date of March 20th and declare it a new and Peaceful World, and then went about building it?
We live in the same incredible landscape. We are neighbors, and we can work to define how we live together, how we support ourselves and everyone else. This is an unprecedented opportunity for us to become Peacemakers, together and for each other. I’m not sure what that looks like. You’re probably not either. Will you explore how to make Peace with me? I trust that together we can create Peaceful Community in our valley.
Salaam, Shalom, Peace, Blessed Be.