WHILE drifting silently in the canoe with my comrade and friend, I saw a reflection on the water of the sun, clouds and blue sky. For a moment, in that peaceful stillness and quiet, I found myself thinking of our planet earth moving with incredible speed through the vacuum and vastness of space around the sun, seemingly lonely in its orbit, always in constant rotating motion. In my mind, I saw the earth swinging around the sun like a giant clock working upon enormous invisible gears. I felt incredibly small as I was a mote matter of consciousness and being. And just as I was about to become lost in my imagination to the limits of mind and universe, my thoughts and concentration were broken by sudden movements in the water. And I looked and my gaze pierced through the transparency of my reflection. Beneath the surface of water, schools of fish were darting about and I could see plantgrowth life that was flourishing there and for some reason in that quiet solitude among the songs of crickets and movements of fish I could not help but think of those who were collectively fighting and putting up a just struggle for a peace to call their own.
At one of our camp meetings someone said that the world is in turmoil therefore for us youth, we are in turmoil. The struggle for this peace has been waged historically and heroically. I thought of the great sacrifice of the oppressed nations and people of the world who struggled against the forces that sought and brought turmoil into the world. Today the world is a different place than it was when the Soviet Union and People victoriously defeated the armies of fascism and aggression. Today we have the resistance in Lebanon, in Iraq, in Afghanistan and in Palestine against imperialism and dark brutal reaction.
In the canoe with my friend and comrade, the responsibility to face this turmoil, to block the world from falling apart and to secure a bright future and a peace to call our own never felt heavier. The task felt monolithic before my brain – but I wasn’t alone in the world. This task isn’t mine alone, like everyone in this world I am a part of it and I have a part in it.
[Note: This piece was writtened in August 2006 during the period when U.S.-backed Israeli imperialism and aggression was on the offensive against the heroic Lebanese people. Israel's aim was to crush and wipe out the resistance in Lebanon, namely Hezbollah, and as such, failed to complete its brutal military and political objective. This was a profound defeat for the aggressors and a sound victory for the Lebanese resistance and freedom fighters! Long live the Lebanese Resistance to U.S.-Israeli imperialism!]
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November 17, 2006 at 5:10 pm
Laurie
I was very impressed with your writing style and what you had to say. I felt myself sitting right there in the canoe with you. I have found that I can do some of my most profound thinking when I am just “floating” along at a peaceful time when my mind is unintruded with normal flow from the outside world. I appreciate what you have to say and it comforts me in the awareness of these massive and incredible events in life that we are not alone. We all carry on in this walk together and that we are all intrinsically connected.
November 18, 2006 at 4:54 am
soilride
This was writtened about three months ago while I was at camp with some friends in Canada. Thank you for your comments Laurie.
And thank you Tessa for your comments as well.