Feeling victorious and feeling defeated are illusions... There is no winning. There is no losing. A story I heard recently... A ring was lost in a field and many people started to look for this ring. They organised themselves and started working up the field, a furrow at a time. One person spotted the ring.
But who really found it?
Everyone who was working together in unity was a part of finding that ring. The person who found it could sing and dance and shout at the top of their lungs "I found it! I found it!" A reward could have been given to them, a huge amount of money... But really, who found that ring? Would that person have ever found it by themselves?
So how are we to 'find' unity? By looking at how we profit or gain as individuals? By feeling dejected and victimised? Or by just doing something....just walking along those furrows and seeking for the unity in every single situation?
Nobody knows what will happen over the next decade, two decades... Fifty years... The world offers us new surprises every day. Sometimes those surprises are horrific and some are spectacular. Some are intriguing and some spark off a debate that could last for centuries.
But in the quiet of the night and the busy-ness of the day, someone is nurturing their baby. Someone is campaigning for human rights and for people to be released from prison. Someone is dishing out spoonfuls of hearty stew at the soup kitchen. Someone is building a home for another family because their home was crushed in the storm. Someone is enabling a child to really see his worth and how she can contribute to society. Someone is teaching a 90 year old man to play a piece on the piano in his final days...
Elation is short lived and it will pass away. Feeling dejected is also short lived and everyone can rise from their ashes.
Can we look for this ring of unity together. In all the service that we do (which includes being parents, cooking in a kitchen, making paper, creating works of art, being a comedian, being a career to a spouse, working at the supermarket, teaching 30 children how to understand Shakespeare) we can always think before we speak. We can see the good in people. Our daily interactions will really make a difference now!
All of us are heading the same way. It doesn't matter what happens. We still all have our power. I have seen miracles happen in my lifetime. I have worked with children and teens who every other person in their life had given up on and yet they were still able to find their purpose and a noble goal when believed in.
So that does give me hope for our world. We just have to make small, consistent steps daily. And when we find that ring? Invite the whole world to celebrate finding it!