What the World Needs Now....

...is the Campaign for Love and Forgiveness.

I can remember being in 5th grade, hanging out during the grace digestion period after lunch but before the bell would ring us back to class. It's was a typical day, kicking the dirt, smirking at girls, and making grade school small talk about my hot wheels collection or how cool it would be if the playground swings went all the way around the pole so you could just wind yourself up and around and up and around until you rocketed to another planet!!! Or something like that.

Anyway, I specifically remember kneeling down drawing in the dirt when I felt what must have been a gallon of chocolate milk pouring down my neck and back. In reality, they only gave us half-pints in the cafeteria - so, some of the volume feel must have been do to the shocking sensation of it all. I quickly jumped up and away, turned around and said, "You stupid __________!"

The guilty party was both startled and harmed by my disrespectful wordage and just stood there,staring back at me. Not in protest, not in anger to taunt, but in frozen shoes of confusion concretized by my hap-hazard remark.

Realizing I had hit the target with my slash and burn statement, I simply turned away - not knowing what to do now. With luck on my side, I was able to make a b-line for the classroom as the sweet sound of the class bell saved me from any possible consequences of my ugly utterance.

This story doesn't end with a,"and then we met 14 years later and I apologized." Or - more appropriately, 'He waited for me after class and kicked my ass!" No - it simply ends... with no resolution, no apology, nothing. I can't remember the kids name and I can't remember ever having contact with him again. But I do vividly remember to this day my response and how I wish I had the chance to say I was sorry. Especially since I realized all too quickly it was an accident.

Can you think of anything that would be more welcome to a world full of short sightedness than a heaping serving of forgiveness...a good measure of it, pressed down, shaken together and running over?!

You can change everything if you choose to love and forgive.

For as much as the worlds religions distort, cannibalize and run rough shot over their deepest possibilities and meanings...this concept of loving and forgiving is one found across the board. Each has it's own perspective and rituals to achieve such a golden rule standard. Still, it is undeniably present and a gesture we must reclaim for any hope of a co-creational future or global ethic.

No, I'm not going to divulge what word I used back then. It's left blank intentionally. You can fill in any host or sordid demonstratives. Maybe you already did? Maybe you were in 5th grade once as well and wish you could come up with a more suitable ending to one of your stories?

Well, maybe you can?

Ivan L