"Once you open your hands and allow your peace to welcome all, you will never again close off your heart to any of mankind's concerns nor fail to hold anything so precious as life itself. When you open your heart and let all enter, eternal peace will reside within you and guide your every action like a guardian angel.
We never know for sure when we are visited by an angel who carries our conscience. When angels visit us, we hear not their rustle of wings, neither feel their feathery touch nor observe their landing, but we know of their presence by the love they create in our lives. They help us to find peace within ourselves in the sure knowledge that when we do, we become the type of person who more easily lives at peace with all others. Angels teach us the power of prayer; when we badly need something and know not whom to turn to. Far better than a thousand angry words is the one that speaks of peace. Far better than any other gesture is the one that offers peace.
Today, we live in a world of conflict and uncertainty, that often it becomes hard to know who are our enemies and who are our friends; the war in Syria being a perfect example, along with the former war in Afghanistan and Iraq. Our duty towards our country and natural allies will sometimes mean that we reluctantly take up arms in what might seem a questionable cause in parts of the world we do not truly understand.
The long awaited recent publishing of the Chilcot Report clearly shows that it was not necessary to invade Iraq in 2003 with the USA-led coalition and that the Government of Great Britain was wrong to have sanctioned this war when influenced by inaccurate information to do so, which was presented to Parliament by the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair. We all know now that the world was not made a safer place through this action that toppled Saddam Hussein from power and that this avoidable conflict merely opened up new conflicts, which have since made world a more dangerous place.
I don't know the outcome to the Syrian conflict or how long the battle between numerous combatants will rage, but I do believe that in order to remain a friend to ourselves and the rest of humanity, we should never make an enemy of any future prospect of peace when it shows its face, but instead open up our hands and welcome it." William Forde: July 8th, 2016.