We are always so impressed by and proud of our Young Ethical Explorers. Here’s one example of our wonderful youngsters, this poem for peace, by longtime member, Marifer:
“I Wish for Paradise”
by Marifer
I look around and see the war.
Where there was once life
there is pain and strife.
Where there was once laughter and the rhythm of hearts beating,
there is now broken glass and hearts that haves stopped feeling.
The news blares with warnings of doomsday,
and this may be our final chance.
I see the seas rising and the trees falling.
I see children who do not laugh, who do not play, who live afraid.
Is this the world that we have made?
Do we always need to fight?
Do we always need to kill?
Will we do this until
there is nothing left?
Concrete and metal, guns and bombshells?
There is still beauty.
We can see through the fire.
I just hope that earth won’t become a funeral pyre.
What is peace? Can we ever have it?
Will there be a day when we have learned from our mistakes,
with no wars, no hunger, no pain.
Maybe someday there will.
We need to work for it still —
to take action until
that hope we fulfill.
We are all children of Mother Earth.
Children who will struggle with every chemical polluted breath.
Children with suppressed rights.
Children who swim and fly, tangled up in nets, fighting for their lives.
Children dying from hunger, eating only sawdust bread.
Children poisoned by greed.
Poverty and war — over coal and oil.
People poisoning the soil.
Families torn by turmoil.
We need to be loyal to Mother Earth after all she’s given.
This is the only place we can actually live in.
So, let’s protect her, let’s give back.
Let’s strive to become the generous ones
whom this earth so lacks.
We can rise from greed, hunger and lies.
We will see through the fire — but only if we try.
