On the 1st July 2005 I visited a rest home situated on an Island off the west coast of Scotland and spent some time with its residents. On my way back to England I visited the Lockerbie Memorial at Dryfesdale Cemetery, where there is a memorial to the 243 passengers, 16 crew members(all representing 21 nations) and the 11 residents of Lockerbie who lost their lives on the eve of 21st December 1988 due to an act of terrorism. As I wandered around this well kept memorial, I could not help thinking to myself what a tragic waste of human life. The majority of the plaques and stones placed there to commemorate those who had lost their lives carried their pictures; men, women and children.
As I glanced around all that was before me I was overwhelmed by the immensity of pain and anguish felt by all those close to the victims of this calculated murder of innocents. Whilst I stood there I shed a silent tear and offered a prayer for all who had suffered. One of my friends whom I was with, suggested that I write an article about my visit to the memorial. Little did I know at that moment in time there were more dark clouds gathering on the horizon and very soon we would hear of more terrorism acts. Often, despite its name, the primary intent of terrorism appears to be to kill rather than frighten. This seems to have been the case with the 1988 bombing of the Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie.
The term terrorism did not itself appear until the end of the 18th Century, when it was used by the likes of the British political philosopher Edmund Burke to demonize the leaders of the French Revolution. Similarly, terrorism, as a phenomenon that would be readily-recognizable today, did not emerge for a couple of generations after this, when it was adopted by Russian Populists opposed to the Tsarist regime, as well as disparate groups of anarchists and nationalists. However, to a degree, modern terrorism’s lineage can be dated at least as far back as the 1st Century. Since then, that which we today call terrorism has been constantly with us in one form or another and in various degrees of viciousness. The slaughter of the innocent still continues to this day as it happened in London on that Thursday 7th July and now as it did on On Friday 29 June 2007, when two explosives-laden cars were discovered at two separate locations in London and then on Saturday 30 June, a sport utility vehicle was driven into an entrance at Scotland's Glasgow International Airport where it burst into flames. Again the United Kingdom has raised its terrorism threat level to critical, the highest level possible. As always acts of terrorism achieves nothing but pain, grief and heartache for all those that it affects.
That said, today’s terrorism differs in many ways from that of earlier eras, not least in terms of the weapons it employs and the mass-media saturated environment in which it operates. Undoubtedly, both have had an effect on how terrorists ply their trade and how the world perceives and reacts to it: so much was apparent from the use of simple box cutters on Sept. 11, 2001, to crash sophisticated airliners into high-profile buildings, at the cost of thousands of lives, and while the world watched transfixed via television.
To eradicate terrorism from our midst and bring about a healing requires that all the people of our world accept Gods simple truth, that all men women and children were created equal and belong to the one big family that we call mankind.Brother Mandus once gave a prayer “Beyond a Minute for Peace” in the United Nations Chapel in New York. He believed then; as I do now in a universal brotherhood and that God loves us all. I would now like to offer this prayer again as a healing for all mankind. Brother Roy.
“Beyond a Minute for Peace”
A Prayer By Brother Mandus
“Beyond a minute for Peace, is a minute in which we become one with the Father of all mankind. In that state of eternity all things flow under Divine government. The vision of a minute for peace is not a static minute, but is that state of mind through which the wondrous, creative, infinite powers of the Universe spill forth in the highest productivity. It is a moment when one by one across the world we can really come back to God, and discover this channel of communication, this oneness through which God’s love is released into the entire world community.
Therefore, it is much more than just being still, just being quiet even more for the sake of peace. It is being still in the midst of God, out of which the peace, the harmony, the creative surge, the infinite majesty, the perfect everything flow into our experience.
“In this sacred moment, this minute for peace, be still and know one truth, that the Kingdom of God is the Kingdom of Love. That in the Kingdom of Love we commune with and release love, unto every person on earth. In this love is founded the brotherhood of man, and the eternal purpose of God.
Thank You, Father for the privilege and miracle of being alive and for the joy of having brotherhood with all people of every race, every colour, every creed and every religion. This is established in Thee, and everyone everywhere, and Thank You Father, that it is so.”
Be still and know one truth, that the Kingdom of God is the Kingdom of Love. That in the Kingdom of Love we commune with and release love, unto every person on earth. In this love is founded the brotherhood of man, and the eternal purpose of God.
Brother Mandus
9th January 1907 – 8th March 1988