Under the surface, we’re all humans with the same basic needs, similar dreams, connected to one another on this one small planet. Even when we don’t speak the same language, we can play and have fun and spend our precious time together. I began this week quoting a song by Sting called the Russians that had the lines:

In Europe and America there's a growing feeling of hysteria
Conditioned to respond to all the threats
In the rhetorical speeches of the Soviets
Mister Krushchev said, "We will bury you"
I don't subscribe to this point of view
It'd be such an ignorant thing to do
If the Russians love their children too
How can I save my little boy from Oppenheimer's deadly toy?
There is no monopoly on common sense
On either side of the political fence
We share the same biology, regardless of ideology
Believe me when I say to you
I hope the Russians love their children too...

Today’s video perfectly illustrates how, even in a theater of war, we can make connections and laugh and cry together, because in the end, we’re all human. Please remember that as you begin your weekend and share your smile and care with those around you.

A couple kids living in a war zone, they didn’t choose to be there. They didn’t do anything that should have caused a huge super-power to occupy their community with troops and weapons. Whoever the “enemy” was it wasn’t either of these two kids. But modern warfare doesn’t confine itself to open battlefields with huge lines of combatants bearing down on one another. And sometimes religious fanatics, going against the mainstream of their own religion, blow themselves up hoping to kill as many of the invaders as possible and believing that they will wake up in paradise. But bombs don’t know the difference between believers and invaders and anyone unlucky enough to be in range are killed and lose the one life they’ve been given. Why are we still doing this? What is wrong with humanity that if one individual doesn’t get his way (and it sadly is often a male), he thinks he has the right to either take away the lives of others or force them to live according to his vision? Life is hard enough without these clearly defective individuals. The body of humanity needs to figure out how to deal with this illness because it is not the norm nor is it inevitable. No one, especially children, should be dying because some sick human has access to explosives or weapons. Period. I hope y’all have a wonderful weekend, free from harm or the threat of harm. 

Source: The Nature of War by The Rauch Brothers/Story Corps, https://storycorps.org/animation/the-nature-of-war/