No more hurting people

I can think of no wiser words than those that 8-year-old Martin Richard scrawled in brightly colored markers on a poster for one of his school assignments:

“no more hurting people”

However, as perceptive and hope-filled as his short and powerful message was, ironically Martin Richard’s life on earth came to an abrupt end at the Boston Marathon while he excitedly waited for his father to cross the finish line, not knowing that a bomb was placed within a short distance of him and his family by someone who had the specific intent of doing the very thing he was championing against:  hurting people.

The utterance of these four words “no more hurting people” should cause us to pause and put some serious thought into where it is as a world we want to go – and how we are going to get there.  Martin’s call for peace is one that we have an opportunity to carry the torch forward on.  Does anybody out there feel a responsibility to at least make an effort to see to it that a world like the one that this young child envisioned and yearned for will one day be a reality not only for a handful of people, but for all of Humanity?

If even the youngest in our society are choosing to be part of the change, what will you choose to do?

If even the most innocent in our world are stepping up and declaring their thoughts and ideas, what will you declare?

If even the most vulnerable among us have the courage to demonstrate Who They Are, who will you demonstrate yourself to be?

In the process of answering these questions, we may find ourselves wondering if God has anything to say about any of this.  Conversations with God tells us that God talks to everyone.  All the time.  The question is not to whom does God talk, but who listens?

Are we willing to consider the possibility that one of the ways in which God is speaking to us right here, right now, is through this bright young man named Martin Richard?  Perhaps in the same way that She spoke through another young man almost 2,000 years ago named Jesus?

If we are willing to consider that possibility, then the bigger question for each and every one of us to consider is: Are we going to listen — and stop hurting people?

(Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation. She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team at www.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)