Like so many of you, I woke up to news of war over the weekend. Again.
Still comfortable in my own bed, yet suddenly uncomfortable with the destruction and trauma being unleashed on the other side of the world on my behalf, whether I wanted it or not.
Two news stories caught my eye in those first few hours. The Red Crescent reported that the death toll from the first day in Iran was about 200 people. In a separate article, from various sources, it was reported that a school in the south of Iran was hit and destroyed with more than 100 killed. So one half of the first day’s casualties seem to have been children.
You may say that this is an unfortunate side effect of war but I would say it is the very definition of it.
This morning, there was news of three US fighter jets being mistakenly shot down by an ally. The crew are safe. It was a roughly $300 million mistake. What do you think was spent in total over the weekend? And what do you think we could have done with that?
Former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower once said, “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.” It’s not hyperbole. In a world of limited resources, how will we spend ours?
The brief vignettes below are separate from, and yet connected to the news of war and the choices we make. It’s all connected. We…are all connected.
Yesterday I met Lynsey Addario, a Pulitzer prize-winning photographer based in London who has covered conflicts around the world. She has photographed in Darfur, Iraq, Afghanistan, and LIbya. She left her coverage in Ukraine to come here. To Minneapolis. That one of the world’s most acclaimed conflict photographers has come to my community to document the aftermath of the ICE surge is startling to me.
Also yesterday, I spent time working on a series of photos that speak of journey and connection. I’ve asked people to hold an item that is precious to them, that reminds them of home or family. An item that they have carried with them on life’s journey and that keeps them connected to their place of belonging, wherever that might be.
And all of last week, I worked with middle school and high school students around finding the positive in their own communities. The science of the positive doesn’t ignore hardship or struggle, but it recognizes that when we celebrate and amplify what is good in our communities, it helps people thrive.
And so we did that. We asked, “When have you seen the Positive in your community? And over the week more than 90 people shared their story. So many of them are so good, but this one sticks with me this morning as I try to sort out the news of the day:
“It takes an army to start a war, and one person to be kind.”