The news remains bleak. World peace feels elusive. History echoes with the clang of wars waged by those who crave land, power, control, dominance. Consensus crumbles beneath the weight of age-old conflicts, each side fighting to shape the world in its own image. I’ve wrestled with these heavy thoughts, searching for a flicker of hope in what often feels like overwhelming darkness. The struggle feels relentless.
Where Does Your Voice Find Refuge?
by Louise Gallagher
It is easy to stand for freedom
when there’s no cost to stand
blowin’ in the wind
with the prevailing view.
It’s easy to voice your disagreement
with someone else’s opinion
when there’s no consequence to your safety
for holding a different view.
But where does your voice find refuge
when dissent is weaponized?
What do you do when your words become
the tool others employ
to vilify and demonize you as ‘other’?
Can free speech find its truth
in a world where only those opinions
acceptable to some
are deemed worthy?
Can anyone be free
in a world where some voices are tolerated
and others are obliterated?
Can freedom survive
when only the few use their power
to grant it to the voices who stand
singing their tune?
Perhaps there is no clear-cut answer,
no easy path to save freedom from demise.
But dreamers dream of freedom
leading us to hope
that our voices rising up,
our hands reaching across
the words that divide us,
will reclaim the truth:
We are one humanity,
no matter where we stand
or what song we sing.
Dare Boldly 