Across the Globe, Peace

Greetings!

Having previously related an incident in my building that triggered old vulnerabilities, I thought that a follow-up would be natural. Also, relating this experience, I further integrate what passed between me and my neighbors yesterday. Intention, then action, are good, but integration completes the cycle.

Breathing into "right timing," I was inspired to knock on their door about 4 p.m. and found that the young man, a high school senior, was home to interpret, and his mother and father were there relaxing. They enthusiastically invited me into their home, served me a delicious fruit drink, and told me how happy they were that I had come to visit.

They speak Arabic and have been in America from their homeland, Iraq, only since June. Each of them speaks some of our language, but the son is most fluent. He informed me that he had been excused from an after-school practice, so he was home 2 hours early and his mother had been in hospital for a minor procedure two days earlier. The synchronicity delighted all of us.

They are very happy in our neighborhood and told me that the neighbors are friendly and very helpful. I, in turn, told them that when I went to Holy Land Market, the owner, an Arab, helped me to choose the right gift for an Iraqi family. We all agreed that the world is becoming a more integrated community and we are happy to see it evolving.

Baghdad, they tell me, is a multi-cultural community. Though Muslim, they celebrate Christmas and believe all paths lead to one God. Tears come once again as I feel how touched I am by these warm, like-minded neighbors. And I could have missed this.

I could have let the incident of two months ago become a wall between us. In the card I gave them, I reflected on the song, "Let There Be Peace on Earth." What I did not know until yesterday was that I did not take the first step toward peace. Some time recently they attempted to deliver a traditional Iraqi dinner to me, but I was not home. The woman would like us to meet occasionally to practice her English. I will be learning some Arabic. Who could have guessed!

Our step is just one of the many steps being taken across the planet; steps necessary to achieve peace. What governments may try to do, people, one on one, achieve. We all agreed that the more we know one another, the less we fear. The less we fear, the more we realize we are alike.

Wishing you all Peace, Now,

I am Phyllis, still Becoming