Friendship changes the climate

Love your family as if you will never see them again. Treat people as your family – brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, grandparents. Then you are an agent of peace. Peacemakers bring peace to their families first, then the family bring peace to the world. That is how it works. We are all related, that is why we relate.

I would like to add here I met a lady yesteday who said she had a very happy marriage. Her own parents were very loving and happy together. Even her sister has had a happy life. We both agreed the importance of parents loving each other. My family was conflicted I told her, my greatest teachers in reality, but I saw clearly how the unhappiness between my parents affected the children. The holding of families together is to believe in the family, sometimes people can push through problems and make the relationship stronger, other times they are moving from abuse. So the decision to split the family should never be accompanied by guilt. Each person does their best given their perspective of the world. The only feeling here is to follow your truth and think of the best interests of children. They often can become pawns, never demonise the other parent to the children, you harm their future relationships. They have to see the model of conflict resolution and fairness and love in action. If they see bitterness, anger and revenge, that is what they become and it is not a happy life.

FAMILY SPRINGS FROM THE HEART OF LOVE

Family springs from the heart of love,
It is the group that forms like a mother of pearl,
Around your life,
Like beads of memories stringing the pearls,
It is the cocoon within which you can seek protection,
From the world,
It is the greatest challenge,
And the most wonderful joy,
For each member is special,
They are part of the clan,
For the family name is what binds,
The family game is what chimes,
A sense of belonging.

In the eastern philosophies it is the group that governs,
One represents the family name,
One marries to connect families in unity,
One seeks to make the father proud,
Where there are roles to play,
There is an order of relationships,
That is custom made.

In the western philosophy,
The individual lives within the family,
They seek to find their own way,
They resist authority and challenge views,
They may go off the rails,
They may sail off to new adventures,
For the family is a patchwork quilt,
Where many parents inter-marry,
Children become siblings in step,
Or a single parent becomes both parents,
Working endlessly to keep up with consumer demand,
For in this land families can become split the earth quakes,
The heart divides and becomes lost,
For to lose the way is to lose yourself,
So it is important to never give up,
To never given in,
To never give away,
For people make mistakes,
To persevere is to believe in love,
For the family is the building block of our lives,
To dismantle the family home leaves no place for one to return when all goes wrong,
For each brick forms the foundation of character,
Each belief is a mountain range,
To climb or view from a distance,
Is to challenge or accept nature.

To me the family is the seed,
It is the point of origin,
All the trials and tribulations form the character of my letters,
It is to accept the differences but never abandon hope,
It is to be proud to belong to a unit not a flat for where you live is always a castle,
And even when it disintegrates in time,
When it lives its own life and pulls away,
The purpose of life to set others free.

For family owes me nothing,
Yet it is the breeze that refreshes my life,
For I have been homeless,
I have been alone and without support,
For this is the gift of appreciation that I wrap in the present,
These are the moments of gratitude that fall like dew drops obscuring the pane,
For I appreciate the deepest value is not in any object, job or status,
But in the smile of one you love,
This is the dove that flies to the horizon,
That is the true freedom,
That forms the real peace to the puzzle,
To sit back and observe conversations without judgement or comparison,
To be glad they are finding their way.

For to love all people as if family,
Welcomes you across the threshold,
For the world is your oyster – a pearl,
Friendship is the new family of the world.