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Healing the Wounds of War: a Spiritual Axis
After World War 2 the world was in ruins. The nations that fought against each other in that war were the last people who you would think would naturally cooperate with each other in a common cause. In Australia, when I was growing up, there was still (if fading) a lingering collective memory among some of the Japanese as a hated and feared enemy, even though nowadays there is warm friendship between the two countries and peoples. Shoghi Effendi, who led the Baha’i community in this dark period of war, and in the subsequent decades, did not think like this. Where others saw enmity he saw connections. Thus he framed…
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Peace Bell
In Cowra, the Peace Bell tolls a warning, And magpies caw their raucous and wry chorus in reply. Their voices reach a quiet graveyard, An unusual place, Here Japanese mothers and children sleep. So far from home – they are not forgotten. ANZACS sleep nearby -almost – almost – beside them. They too attract the living – not forgotten. How strange, the earth’s embrace draws them so close. The Peace Bell tolls a warning. Keep them out the shrill galah shrieks And fearful faces turn to listen, hatred rising in their eyes. Across the plain a musty folk museum lies, Its most sacred relic, a roll-up flag. Turn them out the galah…
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‘We will always remember you’
Sometimes, there is no need for words. This, I think, is one of those times. This video says it all.
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Tragedy knows no foreignness
Sometimes it is tragedy that reminds us of the most fundamental human truths. Last week, the world community witnessed the devastation that came upon Christchurch. Nations across the world now hope for and contribute to a swift process of rebuilding and rehabilitation, and they join New Zealand in mourning the victims of this terrible disaster that shook the nation. And of those countries feeling the pain of the Christchurch earthquake, Japan in particular mourns deeply. Among the 100-plus victims still buried under the rubble of the collapsed CTV building in downtown Christchurch are more than twenty Japanese exchange students who were studying English in New Zealand. Their status, along with…
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Hometown Foreigners
We traditionally define a “foreigner” as someone who comes from a country other than our own. But that definition is too easy. It does not fully encompass the range of people who find themselves “foreigners” in their own hometowns (that is facing exclusion and discrimination): sometimes because of the occupation they hold. The Japanese film “Okuribito,” known among English-speaking audiences as “Departures,” explores the subtle but serious stigma that society can attach to certain lines of work. The movie, which won the 2009 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, focuses on the life of Daigo, the protagonist, who loses his job as a cellist in Tokyo and moves back…
