Even in Boston, the sun is out, the trees are flowering and the weather is bit better. It is hard to believe in this kind of weather, that there are so many threats to the world, to our peoples, to our lives. It is hard to believe in covid, in danger, in evil. And yet just from the pervasiveness of the protection we’re creating around ourselves, it’s all around us.
I don’t want protection, I want peace. Standing between the pillars of the John F. Kennedy way, I remembered his commencement speech and wept. He talked of peace, but very specifically:
What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children–not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women–not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.
I can never forget that hope that he instilled in me.