Finding the One Voice

This container ship steamed by yesterday as our ferry was crossing the sound to Seattle. I always find it amazing: these ships are so huge -- every one of those containers is basically the size of the back end of a semi truck. And each is presumably stacked to the gills with... stuff. Toys, clothes, cars, electronics, household goods... so much stuff!

We are, as we know, an acquisitive society; I'll not go down that road with a sermon about the perils of consumerism. Let's think instead of the people who MAKE the stuff, and how they, in their factories in whichever part of the world they work, are individuals, with families; people who eat, and drink, and worry, and dream just as we do. And what about the men who build the boats and the containers, and the sailors who pilot these giant boats across the seas... What are their lives like?

I'm thankful to the young woman who led our Kirtan last night; I think her gentle explanation of the practice of chanting as a way of breaking down the barriers between individuals, as a way of finding the One Voice that we all share, is what helps me to see beyond the ship and the boxes to the people they represent. It's so essential that we come to grasp that underlying unity; that we can begin to speak and act out of that understanding...