Keeping Faith in Times of Suffering

There is so much suffering in the world. I’ve grappled with this for years. What can we do? What is my role? Should I focus on alleviating the world’s suffering or my own? Should I focus on world peace, my community’s peace, or my own peace? We only have 24 hours in each day.

My heart breaks with every bomb, threat, death, and word of hateful, racist, or divisive speech. We have every reason to lose faith in humanity and the systems and people that govern us.

I choose to keep faith. I choose to pray. I visualize and meditate on world peace. The kind where one person bleeding means we all bleed; where one person smiling means we all smile. I visualize women in leadership roles in every country and city in the world. I visualize Palestinians and Israelis hugging, kissing, marrying each other. I choose to believe that people are inherently good. I refuse to allow small pockets of hatred to disrupt my faith in the creation of a peaceful world.

I meditate as resistance. I choose love and hope as my weapons of activism. I will never hold a gun or fire a bullet. I feel my privilege in saying that. I mourn from afar. I feel my privilege in saying that. I pray that we no longer wait until a country makes world headlines or experiences catastrophe to begin caring about their people. I pray we realize that posting our opinions on our instagram story doesn’t change a thing. It’s how we show up in the world; Karma Yoga. It’s where we spend our money, who we invite to the dinner table, who we work for, who we employ, who’s books we read, how we relate to our own thoughts, and even how we spend our leisure time that creates change over years and decades.

My heart is broken. And with each deep breath, I force into my spirit feelings of hope, faith, love, and peace.

Love to Palestinians and Muslim people worldwide. Love to every being in Gaza. Love to Israelis. Love to my Jewish friends and ancestors, including my grandfather, a Holocaust survivor who grew up in refugee camps because of his religious identity. Peace to all beings, especially those in states of suffering.

In solidarity always,

Ben