This Is My Prayer

 

 I pray that the men and women who are the guards, who have taken and who care for these newly created prison camps, holding undocumented workers and others recently snatched from their lives on American soil, find within their hearts, the ability to see all who are under their lock and key, as fellow human beings, and open their hearts in compassion and understanding, and stop the abuses and the cruelty, and turn out the lights at night.

I pray that the men and women being held in detention can find peace in their hearts and minds and be able to care for themselves properly and be able to sleep deeply despite the conditions they find themselves in.  

I pray that those individuals, the ones who are displaying the utter insanity and greed that is running rife through the halls of our United States government, right now, I pray that they awaken abruptly to the truth and good within themselves and find their way swiftly back to love and to the real meaning of compassion.

I pray that we all, world wide, awaken to our empathy and feel what it is like to walk in the footprints of the other.  May we learn to share, to grow, to be kind and understanding.  

I pray that all of the nations and governments of our world can find a way to smooth the waters of unrest pervading in so many areas, including Gaza and the United States.  May we all quickly find our way to a world beyond war, a world where habeas corpus, the right to a trial, and the rule of law presides with justice, true justice, a world where prisons are no longer the outcome, but compassionate healing environments, for those who have experienced pain, the pain that caused their unrest, in the first place, to be healed.  

I pray that all of the animals, especially our endangered species, find balance one more, in their natural habitats and I pray that the plant kingdom becomes free once more to flourish, free from clear cuts and mono cropping.  I pray that the rocks and minerals be unmolested and allowed to be as they are.  

I pray that the climate and the great waters of the oceans are free from the influences of recent human endeavors, and are allowed to resume their natural patterns of global balance.  I pray that humankind becomes kind, and finds its way fully into equality and quickly leaves misogyny and domineering ways behind.  I pray that we come to be honoring of our diversity, of our uniqueness, valuing these varying traits in one another, while respecting our own individual and collective self governance.  

I pray that all beings everywhere be free from suffering, be happy, be peaceful, and be free.

 

Josephine Laing
© 2025