home.social

#peacebuilding — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #peacebuilding, aggregated by home.social.

  1. The Transparent Tongue

    I prayed for a transparent tongue—

    not one without language,
    not one emptied of conviction,
    not one so pale with caution
    that it could no longer name the wound,

    but a tongue through which
    truth might pass
    without becoming a weapon.

    James saw it clearly:

    the small bit
    turning the great horse,

    the little rudder
    steering the ship
    through a violence of wind,

    the single spark
    lifting its bright red shout
    into the trees.

    So much ruin
    from so little flesh.

    Inside the mouth
    a forest of ash waits.

    One word,
    and the branches begin to burn.

    One word,
    and someone carries the smoke
    for years.

    We bless God
    with the morning hymns,

    then turn before noon
    and curse the likeness of God
    walking beside us.

    Sweet water,
    bitter water,

    both rising
    from the same hidden spring.

    I prayed for a transparent tongue,

    but transparency is not
    saying everything.

    A window is transparent,
    yet broken, it becomes
    sharp and dangerous.

    Light passes through it
    without leaving a cut.

    The transparent tongue
    does not confuse cruelty
    with courage,

    or bluntness
    with honesty,

    or the pleasure of being right
    with the work of righteousness.

    It pauses
    at the gate of the teeth.

    It asks:

    Will this word heal?

    Will this word clarify?

    Will this word protect the weak
    without becoming
    what it condemns?

    Will this word leave room
    for repentance—

    including mine?

    I prayed for a tongue
    clear enough
    that anger would not stain
    every syllable,

    clear enough
    that fear would not bend
    every meaning,

    clear enough
    that the old need to win
    would not stand
    between the speaker
    and the spoken.

    Not invisible.

    Not innocent.

    Not pure.

    Only transparent enough
    for mercy to be seen
    moving through it.

    Transparent enough
    for silence to enter
    when silence is wiser.

    Transparent enough
    for lament
    to remain lament
    and not harden into blame.

    Transparent enough
    for praise to rise
    without requiring
    an enemy beneath it.

    The tongue is not alone.

    Behind it waits the heart.

    Below it, the hands.

    Beyond it, the feet
    that must walk
    where the words have pointed.

    A mouth may speak of peace
    while the body prepares for war.

    A mouth may bless the hungry
    while the hands remain closed.

    A mouth may cry justice
    while the feet refuse
    to cross the street.

    So I prayed not only
    for a transparent tongue,

    but for a transparent life—

    a body through which
    the word and the deed
    recognize each other.

    Let my speech become a window,

    not so others may admire
    the speaker,

    but so they may glimpse
    something gentler
    standing behind me.

    Let the tongue become
    a small clear pane
    in the house of the soul.

    Let light enter.

    Let light leave.

    And when the spark comes—

    as sparks will—

    let it kindle warmth
    instead of wilderness,

    a lamp
    instead of a pyre,

    a fire around which
    enemies might sit long enough
    to remember one another
    as human.

    I prayed for a transparent tongue,

    and heard no answer
    except the next word
    waiting to be spoken.

    So I held it
    for one breath longer,

    turned it toward the light,

    and asked whether grace
    could pass through.

    #BiblicalMetaphor #BlessingAndCursing #BookOfJames #ChristianArt #ChristianPoetry #DestructiveSpeech #FaithAndSpeech #GraceAndTruth #healingWords #James3 #MindfulSpeech #Nonviolence #Peacebuilding #powerOfWords #SacredLanguage #SpiritualReflection #SurrealSpiritualArt #tongueAsFire #TransparentTongue #WisdomFromAbove
  2. Storm Surge

    In the end,
    will you be faithful?
    That is question.

    When the storm has come and gone,
    when what you thought was precious has been stripped away,
    when you sleep in darkness wondering if the lights will ever come back on,
    when your life in the flash of lightning reverts back to the everyday of your sisters and brothers in the warzone,
    when your plane to those destinations is grounded by the thunder’s roar?

    Will you awake to new resolve for justice?
    Will you spend less time before the screen and more time present to loved ones and those in need of it?
    Will you leave the ground to alight among the troubled?
    Will you listen to them?

    Will the power that comes on be in you,
    through you,
    glowing out through your eyes,
    electrifying,
    filling you with a compassion so compelling
    you become a wire
    among many
    channeling
    love and peace
    to the world?

    June 2, 2015

    #awakeToJustice #BelovedCommunity #channelingLove #ChristianReflection #compassion #compassionInAction #ContemplativeWriting #darknessAndLight #faithfulLiving #groundedPlanes #innerPower #Justice #Listening #loveAndPeace #Peacebuilding #PeaceGrooves #powerOutage #presence #propheticPoetry #renewal #resolve #ScreenTime #serviceToOthers #SocialJustice #soulWork #spiritualElectricity #SpiritualReflection #stormImagery #ThePowerOfLove #thunderstorm #warzone
  3. How Government #FusionCenters Violate Americans’ Rights — and How to Stop It

    The Biden administration and Congress must impose oversight and accountability on the state-run centers.

    by Mike German
    December 15, 2022

    "A federal jury awarded $300,000 this month to a #MaineStatePolice trooper who was demoted after blowing the whistle on privacy violations at the state’s intelligence #FusionCenter. The federal government spurred the development of fusion centers after 9/11 as a means for sharing counterterrorism intelligence among state and local governments, as well as select private entities. The facts revealed during this trial adds to a mountain of evidence that fusion centers require greater regulation and oversight.

    "The trooper alleged that the Maine Intelligence and Analysis Center, 1 in a network of 80 fusion centers operating across the country, was illegally collecting and sharing information about Maine residents who weren’t suspected of criminal activity. They included gun purchasers, people #protesting the construction of a new power transmission line, the employees of a #peacebuilding #SummerCamp for teenagers, and even people who travelled to New York City frequently. The whistleblower also claimed that fusion center supervisors pressured him to illegally share sensitive FBI information he had access to because of his position on the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

    [...]

    "Shortly after the Maine trooper filed his lawsuit in May 2020, a hack of a fusion center contractor exposed 296 gigabytes of intelligence records from more than 200 law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and DHS. The records substantiated the trooper’s complaints about privacy and #CivilRights violations at the #Maine fusion center and showed similar abuse occurring throughout the network, particularly in tracking #BlackLivesMatter #protests. The documents also showed that fusion centers had regularly spread misinformation sourced from dubious social media posts, including false reports alleging that #antifascists were starting wildfires or planning acts of violence. These specious reports distracted law enforcement during public safety emergencies."

    Read more:
    brennancenter.org/our-work/ana

    #FTPFriday #ACAB #SLAPPs #Fascism #CivilLiberties #ClimateActivists #QuebecHydro #CMP #CMPCorridor #ForestDefenders #WaterProtectors #CorporateColonialism