Dear Beloveds, With love, compassion, and a strong commitment to ending violence in this world in large and small ways, I send this reminder to you.
I love all of you dearly,
Karen (Boston, MA) Promise me,
promise me this day,
promise me now,
while the sun is overhead
exactly at the zenith,
promise me: Even as they
strike you down
with a mountain of hatred & violence;
even as they step on you & crush you
like a worm,
even as they dismember & disembowel you,
remember, brother,
remember:
man is not our enemy. The only thing worthy of you is compassion -
invincible, limitless, unconditional.
Hatred will never let you face
the beast in man. One day, when you face this beast alone,
with your courage intact, your eyes kind,
untroubled (even as no one sees them),
out of your smile
will bloom a flower. And those who love you
will behold you
across ten thousand worlds of birth & dying. Alone again,
I will go on with bent head,
knowing that love has become eternal.
On the long, rough road,
the sun & the moon
will continue to shine. -- Thich Nhat Hanh | 
