When can we be like children?

I was reading a news column this morning when a very good article caught my fancy. Let me share to you how it goes....

How can peace be elusive as it is seemingly now when all you hear these days are clarion calls for stable peace to dawn in Mindanao? Towards the end of Ramadan there pervades an aura of reconciliatory vibes and forgiveness. The yearning for peace is felt from east to west and from north to south. Despite all these we ask in desperation, “Why is the search for peace so difficult a task?”

If a ceasefire agreement can be sustained, then why cannot a permanent truce be attained? What does it take for protagonists to yield to the defeaning call of the overwhelming majority for the forces to lay down their arms and silenced these forever? There is so much land to share, so much resources to develop, the seas are so rich with a cornucopia of marine wealth. But the opportunity to make these resources productive is lost in the futile struggle for an independent state that stirs apprehension among those who abhors it. That is why the partnerships and joint ventures among Filipino Muslims, Lumads and Christians is so extremely difficult to attain because the struggle comes in the way to reconciliation, trust, unity and peace.

As if this desperation is not enough, we allow ourselves to be abused by foreign terrorist clones whose agenda is not only to inflict harm to innocent civilians, be they Christians, Muslims or Lumads, but to sow dissention and hatred among them. This ignominy is upon us and yet we allow these small diabolic forces of evil to turn us apart and when given the opportunity, to murder our innocent sons and daughters.

“When can we walk the distance from east to west and north to south without fear and apprehension. When can we talk and laugh and share our sorrows and our joys without having to ask what our religious faiths are, our ranks and station in life like children who harbor no hatred but only geniune friendship and love?”
( SunStar Davao)