While driving I have to keep an eye on the speedometer since my foot is heavy on the pedal. It wasnt heavy enough for some this morning, though. Waiting for a car to pass in the opposite lane before I turned left raised the ire of two drivers behind me. One passed on the right, gunning his engine and giving me a hard look.
He must be in a hurry I thought, keeping my eyes on the approaching car. After it passed, I turned into the church parking lot, but not before hearing an angry voice shout at me from the other car: Get moving, old woman! she yelled.
I felt sick, but not because she called me old woman. While I dont consider fifty-nine worthy of the old woman tag, I know age is relative. What disturbed me was the tone in her voice: anger, almost rage. I wrote about shared responsibility for bringing peace into the world as I reflected on Obamas Nobel Peace Prize, but how can the world know peace when so many people are filled with hostility?
A couple of weeks ago I heard peace activist John Dear S.J. speak about contemplation and living peace. He quoted Vietnamese Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh: Peace in every step. Peace in every breath. We must respond to others with peace in our hearts.
I thought of that when the woman screamed at me this morning. What in her life made her quick to react with hostility to such an insignificant wait? What pain or hurt has she endured? I thought of others around the globe: young people trained to hate the enemy, bigots afraid of anyone different than them. I thought of those who have a right to be angry: people suffering discrimination merely for being who they are; those enduring physical and mental abuse, innocent people living in fear and watching loved ones die in war torn countries, the starving, and those impoverished in the midst of plenty?
As I entered church and found a seat, the list had become overwhelming. Peace must start in the heart, I thought. Who can follow a leader calling for peace when their hearts are filled with anger and hate? Jesus knew that was impossible. So did Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. They both insisted on nonviolence and love in response to brutality. Many thought these two men of peace were crazy to confront oppression with no weapons but nonviolence and trust in innate ability of the human soul to eventually recognize evil and choose good instead.
I looked at the altar. Jesus lived peace. He promised to help us do the same. I prayed for the woman in the car, and hoped wherever she was going, someone would meet her with a heart filled with peace.
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