A friend recently asked me how my back was. “Good,” I replied. “No more pain; that’s over with?” he responded. “I wouldn’t say that, but it’s better,” I answered. This led to a conversation about the healing power of positive thinking, and how proclaiming my pain-free present and future self could help actualise it. My friend expressed surprise that that my strong Christian faith didn’t result in...
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Thank you to Daniel Lefebvre, who shared this post.
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I love spending Saturday mornings with a cup of tea listening to the radio. That's how I heard an excellent program on CBC called Day 6 recently. In 30 minutes it covered diverse aspects of peace, from a journalist sharing how to distill the real versus propoganda in the siege of Aleppo, to a mother leaving a gang to give her unborn child a better life, to ways Chicago mirrors a war zone, with...
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This week, I was invited to give a Facebook Live interview to share some of the stories and experiences I've had travelling in pursuit of peace. I had the chance to explain what motivated me to start CryPeace, some of people who have particularly touched and inspired me, and my hopes and dreams for the future. Brief highlights include:
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I live in a wonderfully walkable neighbourhood in Toronto, the largest metropolis in Canada, so I tend to shop close to home. But a dry cleaning emergency this month led me to another pedestrian destination, Roncesvalles Village, during my lunch hour today. I was thrilled to find an adjacent eatery with healthy, vegetarian options. As I left with several meals to save time for writing and...
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Trees and paths
Leaves and needles
I collect burrs like badges on two wheels
Three million neighbours and no one knows I’m here
except the squirrel ignoring me in the twilight
Night falls
I climb
up hills which hid the ravine
Gentle drops and warm wind, slough off the day’s cares
as I race the downpour to my door
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This year, I went to Turkey to help World Vision International share its work with Syrian refugees at the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul. To understand the situation on the ground more deeply, I met with some of the refugees World Vision is helping in Ṣanliurfa, 50 km north of the Syrian border. That's where I met Lamia, who was only 15 when her family fled the war in Syria. Lamia takes...
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I love the writings of Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk who lived in America during the post-nuclear cold war. He wrote prolifically on topics including personal sanctity, nature’s praise of God (of which humans contribute the most conscious, but no means solo, voices), and the responsibility of all people of peace, and faith, to protect the earth from war.
"But politics as they now stand are...
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Last night, when I heard about the attack in Nice, France, I immediately thought of my friend from France, Valérie Baron. She shared these thoughts today, which are so important as we grieve, and reflect on how to bring peace to a very hurting world.
I was thinking about my home country again today. I was there during the November attacks and I wasn't far away. I am thinking of the atrocity...
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As I toured the World Vision-supported Urfa Community Centre in Ṣanliurfa, Turkey, I lingered in front of a photograph displayed on the wall of the art room. A hand, fingers outstretched, seemed to be trying to touch heaven, while birds circled high in the distance. Knowing that the Centre served Syrian refugees, I imagined her photograph meant, "I want to escape earth, its confusion and death,...
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Last comment by Anonymous on Wednesday, October 30, 2019 - 13:35.