I have a dream

My dear Friends
Yesterday in the University library I met an American girl who had watched most of the election then got sleepy at the last minute, so I had to tell her the news that Obama had won! I felt quite honoured at pasing on this news.

When Martin Luther King gave his 'I have a dream' speech, I don't believe he ever thought his dream would come true in his lifetime. Visions of universal Peace and harmony take a very long time to mature and ripen, requiring caution, endurance and sheer guts. It may not come to pass that this dream will be realised in the lifetime of Obama either.

But his election is a great start. For it is not the arriving that wins us the Kingdom of Heaven but the journeying, in solidarity and as pilgrimstogether along the way, and this applies to politics as much as religion.

A friend of mine, a simple but deep soul, works in the tearoom of the University library. We were speaking of Obama and she said: 'I know it sounds silly, but he has beautiful eyes!' Not silly at at all because I believe that we really can see the soul of a person through their eyes, and the Gospel is full of parables abut seeming blindness and true sight, usually given to the simple, uneducated and poor in spirit.

Obama has a beautiful heritage and a beautiful wife, who can only help him through this difficult and extraordinary time of his life and the life of the whole world. Like any great leader, he will feel fear, rejection and loneliness; having to make decisions alone and carry them through.

With God on his side and the real desire of all of us to see Peace in our lifetime, he may well succeed.

Inshaallah! God willing!
Shalom from
Sister Gila