Imagine a world where small children are not jerked down supermarket aisles in the name of
discipline. Imagine a world where it would be possible to watch television for one whole night
on any station and not be subjected to shootouts, beatings, muggings and rapes in the
name of entertainment.
Imagine a world where people could find good jobs without having to be part of a war
machine designed to destroy the earth in the name of defense. Imagine a world where other
races and nations and peoples are not demonized to justify our militarism. But more
important perhaps for now, imagine a home where members of the family do not shout at
one another or slap one another into subjection or bully one another into compliance or
intimidate one another into domestic slavery.
Imagine a home where being a little boy did not mean having to prove himself with his fists or
his muscles or his willingness either to give or to take pain. Imagine a home where both its
boys and its girls, its women and its men could cry. Imagine what life would be like if we
ourselves forgave–really forgave, our families, our colleagues, our children, and our
spouses. Imagine your own life centered around creative work, holy leisure, stewardship,
community, humility and peace. Would your one life, my one life, make any difference?
Well, the rabbis teach that when Moses tapped the shore with his staff, the waters did not
roll back. And when Moses tapped the water with his staff, nothing happened. But when the
first Jew walked into the water, then the Red Sea parted and Israel was saved. The miracle
of the Red Sea was not the parting of the water, but that the first Jew walked in. Only then
did the others follow.
We can ignore and accept things as they are or we can choose to grapple with them. We
can surrender to them or we can struggle to change them. We can run away from the call to
contemplation or we can embrace it with both wisdom and action, taking our disintegrating
world back again one heart at a time, starting with yours and mine.
– from How Shall We Live? (Benetvision)
By Joan Chittister
discipline. Imagine a world where it would be possible to watch television for one whole night
on any station and not be subjected to shootouts, beatings, muggings and rapes in the
name of entertainment.
Imagine a world where people could find good jobs without having to be part of a war
machine designed to destroy the earth in the name of defense. Imagine a world where other
races and nations and peoples are not demonized to justify our militarism. But more
important perhaps for now, imagine a home where members of the family do not shout at
one another or slap one another into subjection or bully one another into compliance or
intimidate one another into domestic slavery.
Imagine a home where being a little boy did not mean having to prove himself with his fists or
his muscles or his willingness either to give or to take pain. Imagine a home where both its
boys and its girls, its women and its men could cry. Imagine what life would be like if we
ourselves forgave–really forgave, our families, our colleagues, our children, and our
spouses. Imagine your own life centered around creative work, holy leisure, stewardship,
community, humility and peace. Would your one life, my one life, make any difference?
Well, the rabbis teach that when Moses tapped the shore with his staff, the waters did not
roll back. And when Moses tapped the water with his staff, nothing happened. But when the
first Jew walked into the water, then the Red Sea parted and Israel was saved. The miracle
of the Red Sea was not the parting of the water, but that the first Jew walked in. Only then
did the others follow.
We can ignore and accept things as they are or we can choose to grapple with them. We
can surrender to them or we can struggle to change them. We can run away from the call to
contemplation or we can embrace it with both wisdom and action, taking our disintegrating
world back again one heart at a time, starting with yours and mine.
– from How Shall We Live? (Benetvision)
By Joan Chittister
IMAGINE A WORLD
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