Modern times and technology have given us a growing tendency to judge and divide ourselves based on views and perspectives that are deeply personal and uniquely held. We take a stance and declare opposing views to be the very ills driving society into a downward spiral.

We see it happening before our eyes: left versus right. Discussion is no longer welcome, as each side condemns the other outright.

But this need not be the case. If we are unwilling to remain open to differing views, we risk becoming trapped in a cycle of perpetuity—where hatred, violence, and anger endlessly circulate. It’s unsettling to consider how many of the world’s problems might soften, or even dissolve, if we each had the capacity for genuine self-reflection.

With that in mind, I’d like to share a beautiful poem from one of my greatest influences, Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh. In addition to being a poet and calligrapher, he was a peace activist and author who was exiled from his home country of Vietnam for refusing to take sides in what we know as the Vietnam War. Vietnamese refer to it as the American War.

—–

Promise me,
promise me this day,
promise me now,
while the sun is overhead
exactly at the zenith,

promise me:
Even as they
strike you down
with a mountain of hatred and violence;
even as they step on you and crush you
like a worm,
even as they dismember and disembowel you,
remember brother, remember:
man is not our enemy.

The only thing worthy of you is compassion –
invincible, limitless, unconditional.
Hatred will never let you face
the beast in man.

One day, when you face this beast alone
with your courage intact, your eyes kind,
untroubled
(even as no one sees them),
out of your smile
will bloom a flower.

And those who love you
will behold you
across ten thousand worlds of birth and dying.

Alone again,
I will go on with bent head,
knowing that love has become eternal.
On the long, rough road
the sun and moon will continue to shine.

Man is not the enemy. Our enemy is hatred, anger, ignorance and fear.

-by Thich Nhat Hanh [taken from PlumVillage.org]