posted September 18, 2004 08:12 PM         

Thank you:
- for shaking me out of my complacency
- for mobilizing my will to introspect
- for mobilizing my will to participate in life, rather than merely allowing life to live me
- for reminding me that I am alive
- for holding a mirror up to my face
- for reminding me of what is most important in life
- for inspiring me to seek love in moments of crisis
- for bringing people together in ways not otherwise accessible
- for inspiring courage, co-operation, uncommon feeling and a renewed sense of community
- for alerting me to the fact that all things and people around me can be destroyed or die, but that there is something within each of us that is immortal, that can never be tarnished, that can never fade, never die, that is always connected to all others and all things
- for illuminating the more extreme emotions that still lie within me, otherwise denied and hidden, that still await my attention, resolution, healing and love
- for inspiring me to actively share my love with those around me
- for causing me to question my beliefs, my values, my biases, my one-eyed stances, my judgments and my blame
- for causing me to seek a bigger picture, a picture that makes sense of the perceived chaos and disorder around me
- for contributing to my evolution of consciousness
- for challenging me to love my enemies
- for helping see that my enemies are but mirror reflections of my own inner devils
- for helping me to love my own inner devils
- for reminding me that each one of us, individually, is a holographic mirror of the whole of Humanity, complete with peace and war, violence and pacifism, love and hatred, likes and dislikes, views and counter-views, angels and devils
- for again bringing the question into the forefront of my consciousness: where is God in all this? (And for bringing me, through my introspection, to again ask myself, where is God not?)
- for strengthening my resolve, my vision, my purpose of sharing my God-given gifts with others in whatever way I can
- for reminding me that I, like all others, indeed have a purpose in life, for myself and for others
- for strengthening my certainty that nothing happens or can happen that does not Serve a higher purpose, that nothing happens or can happen that is not ultimately a Service and an act of Love

To my enemies:
In the ensuing days, weeks, months, years,
in whatever way I respond or others respond to your challenges,
collectively or individually,
whether from hatred and fear or from love and certainty,
whether violent or peaceful,
whether destructive or constructive,
I Wish for you the same awakening to love that you have given me,
for I know in my Heart, with utter certainty,
that all things are a Service of Love,
that all things are part of larger Plan,
that each of us is the same in one respect:
we are all here to learn how to Love.

This makes us all brothers and sisters...