Promote Peace This Weekend

Monday is Memorial Day in the United States, a day to remember all those who have died in a war. To date, 4079 U.S. troops have lost their lives in Iraq. The number of Iraqi civilians killed isn’t reported by the U.S. government, but the lowest estimates range from some 84,000 to just under 92,000. Numbers like these can be numbing, hard to translate into human suffering. In America, we are prevented from seeing the coffins arriving at Dover Air Force Base, the funerals at Arlington Cemetery and small towns all over the country, the weeping mothers and wives, brothers and sisters whose loved ones will never come home.

This weekend, let’s remember each of them, as well as those who have died in other wars around the globe, at the appointed hour of 11 a.m., wherever you live, with a Prayer for Peace. You’ll find one here, and another in a downloadable mp3 file here. (Click on Prayer for Peace MP3.) And if you know someone who has lost someone in the devastation of war, send a note to let them know they aren’t forgotten.