For Jo Cox (1974 - 2016)

PEACING PEOPLE TOGETHER

Estimated female, what is your legacy

What footprint will you leave?

Inhumanity took your life

Humanity saved your friend’s life.

Devoted to a thing - to a cause - to the abstract

Those who divide seek to conquer by default:

Beguiled by propositions, power and aggrandisement

They conspire to rip us apart with violence

We must create our own path, our own future

And choose how we respond:

Never presume anything about a stranger

There will be no resolution until there are no strangers.

There is brilliance in humanity - to who we really are

If we comfort each other and call out our names:

She came through the darkness to tend my wounds

He held my hand and I felt the life he gave me.

For those who were still alive, in that indescribable hell

There was a soft oh so beautiful female voice

That bid us to a greater unity and a stern commanding

Male voice that said: ‘There is a lot to do’.

But for some their purpose is fulfilled

‘I cannot get up, it hurts too much’:

I knew then that nothing would ever be the same

That from that point I had a purpose.

And our words can make a difference:

It’s all we have in the darkness

And people called together

Learn through working together.

Be aware of our thoughts

Know that words are powerful:

Making a Difference for Peace

We are a lot more than we give ourselves credit for.

Hold firm to renewed unity

Stop thinking about us and the opposed others:

Anger is a motivation for change

Peace is not a noun it is a verb.

Children need to be taught to make peace

By peacing things together:

It is something we must do

There is a common thread.

There are models of humanity that roam among us

And they called me to their ranks:

On a pilgrimage that saves us from bitterness

I take the path of unconditional acceptance.

In the prospect of our children’s lives

I opt to believe in beauty and love:

Committed to the contributing journey:

Peacing together the worst and best.

NOTE

[I am heavily indebted to Dr Gill Hicks here for her words – a heroine who lives on to make a
difference]