This year for my birthday, February 28, I would love to see a day of peace the world over, a day without war, a day safe for every child, in every town and city, everywhere—a day free from poverty, from oppression, from racism, a day full of possibility, a day for humankind to work together, a day in which we honor the earth and one another.
Is this too much to ask?
I know it's a tall order, but I've come to believe that anything you can imagine you can make reality, and whatever you cannot imagine becomes impossible. We are living in a time with so many divisions, so much enmity, hate and suspicion, that I can't help but think we could all use a lot more peace, love, and yes, yoga (replace this last word with your favorite thing).
A day of peace is a day when our government intelligence services are not busy spying on us or interfering with the democratically-elected governments of other countries (as they admittedly did in Iran in 1953 and Chile in 1973, to cite only two of many such examples). A day without war is a day when our drones are not targeting suspected terrorists for executive assassination, without the benefit of a jury and a judge to mitigate on their behalves—too often killing many innocents, besides. Drone assassinations are inefficient and unjust, and cause more angry people to want to take up arms against the United States.
For Palestinians a day of peace is a day when not a single Palestinian is killed or wounded, when children can go to school and farmers can tend their fields unharmed. For Israelis, a day of peace means there are no attacks of any kind, and people can enjoy their freedoms.
Imagine a day in Syria when not a single shot is fired. A day in Iraq when all is tranquil and people are quietly going about their daily lives.
I hope you'll join me in imaging a day of peace, a day without war. It would be a fabulous birthday gift for us all.