The eyes
of the children tell the story. These eyes bear witness to the worst horrors
the mind can conjure... many, many times over. Had the atrocities occurred once
or twice, the memories could possibly be justified as an apparition — an outlying
occurrence or a random act of violence. While I was working with the children,
one of them had a radio given to him by the Baptist Church to listen to Gospel
Hour. President Obama's voice crackled something about senseless violence in
Arizona where six people were killed and 13 wounded in a shopping mall. The
kids who understood English looked puzzled, they are told by missionaries, that
going to America is like going to heaven.
This generation bears the gift and the
burden. The gift is that the immediate threat is gone and they have become
happy, laughing children. The burden is that they are the transition from Bardo
to new beginning. They perform alchemy before our very eyes, effortlessly and
joyfully, transforming the raw potential of evil into the exact opposite of
evil, back into love, back into innocence-into light, allowing themselves to be
touched by the light of fireflies.