Like each of us, Aleppo deeply affects me. It even got stronger when I went with three young saplings from our neighborhood village to Kevelaer (Village in Germany). We went there to an interreligious pilgrimage of peace, where they publically had a phone call with their widowed mother in Aleppo. It was a phone call into the middle of the war zone, each one in the audience heard the gun fire.
When I read in the German newspaper “Zeit”that the Syrian dictator tosses down flyers over Aleppo with the message: “The world forgot you none will help you”, I had enough. I had enough just watching, enough not doing anything. I am very grateful to the people of Kevelaer for their worldwide, interreligious peace prayers. They say: “Stop! With our peace prayers we want to overwhelm the skies and the world for a cease-firefor Aleppoevery Monday during Advent. We need to organize help for the people.”
As wonderful as it is, I thought of the mother of the three young kids in Aleppo. In a message she wrote to her kids: “The mornings are bloody, the nights full or terror and worries. We await death every minute.” How can this mother know that the world does not forget her? In front of my inner eye appeared an ocean of light from pictures of burning candles. It might become a sign of solidarity. My co-workers of domradio.de in Cologne will make it possible. People from all over the world may send picture of burning candles. Signs of light appear in the world.
The flap of a butterfly moves the whole universe
Chaos theory says that the flap of a butterfly moves the whole universe. All isbetterthandoingnothing. Send usyourfotos!.Let us overwhelm the skies. Let’s create an ocean of light. Truly, my inner picture is an ocean of light. All-encompassing the world. Light against the darkness of war that must be endured by the people of Aleppo, all over Syria and off cause all over the world.
Through the turning point in history because of the election in the US, the thread of democracy through international and populistic right-wing politicians in Europe – there is so much need to strengthen power against it and show up. There are four practices to prepare us: “May we help to free people from suffering and cease the causes of suffering AND may we create peace and the sources of peace.” We create a lot of sources of suffering, but what we need right now is signs of sources of happiness. Therefor we need to strengthen ourselves and our connectedness, not our feelings of weakness and loneliness.
The ocean of light foremost wants to let the people of Aleppo know that they are not forgotten, but it also wants that a web of light encompasses the world – as a sign of hope, confidence and encouragement for all people: The light lives within us! It only can shine through us – but we are capable to bring it into the world.
