Living Tree Poetry

To act with justice, but to love mercy,
walk humbly.

How to walk sometimes
with the scales balanced.

The cups held steady.

Justice something to be prised from our grip
so intent are we on the administering.

Whereas mercy,

mercy is not poured from one cup
without the emptying of the other.

And what is love, but the antithesis
of withholding,

the hospitable one pouring,
absolving –

serving us tea.

Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
August 2020

‘If our heart is full of love, then peace will start from here.’
In te Reo:  “Ko te aroha nui o te ngākau te tīmatanga o te maungārongo”
~ Farid Ahmed, Christchurch shooting survivor and widower.

“…I don’t want to have a heart that is boiling like a volcano. A volcano has anger, fury, rage, it doesn’t have peace. It has hatred, it burns itself within, and it burns the surrounding. I don’t want to have a heart like this and I believe no one does. I want a heart that is full of love and care and full of mercy, and will forgive lavishly, because this heart doesn’t want any more life to be lost. This heart doesn’t like that the pain I have gone through, that any human being should go through. That’s why I have chosen peace, love and I have forgiven.

People have asked me why do you love him as a human brother and the answer to this is our brother imam has recited the verse from the Qur’an, that says “Oh Mankind, we have created you from a single pair of male and female”, referring to father Adam and mother Eve, so we all are Adam’s children, Eve’s children, we are one single family. We are human brothers and sisters. How can I hate my human brother? I don’t agree with what he has done, I don’t support what he has done, probably he has misunderstood the whole thing, probably he had gone through suffering in his life, some traumatic thing has happened, and he could not process his suffering in the right way. I don’t support his action but I cannot deny he is my human brother. Each human being is my brother or sister. This is what Allah taught. I cannot hate him. I cannot hate anyone.

At the end, again, I would like to say a couple of words for humanity. We all want peace. We say that we want peace. But we have to start from somewhere. We have to start cleaning our own heart first. We have to change our attitude. If our heart is full of love then peace will start from here. Each one of us has responsibility from wherever we are to at least start from our heart. We have to change our attitude. Our attitude should be that we are one family, regardless of faith, religion, culture and language.’”
~ Farid Ahmed, Christchurch shooting survivor and widower.

‘He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.’
~Micah 6:8

^‘ Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots…. One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”  But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”  Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”’
~Luke 23:32-43