International Day of Peace

This afternoon, in recognition of International Day of Peace, Manchester University dedicated a peace pole at the Fort Wayne campus. The peace pole has the message “May Peace Prevail on Earth” in the four languages most spoken at our Manchester University Pharmacy Program English, Arabic, Urdu and Spanish.

I was honored to offer opening remarks that I include below

Good afternoon,

As I thought about what to say today, I chose not to prepare my remarks well in advance and to rather quickly jot down this morning what comes to you straight from my heart; A heart, and mind, that is heavy by the recent loss of our friend Sue.

With that real and palpable sense of grief, I found myself reflecting on the number of lives lost we hear and read about in the news. Lost Lives that for the most part have unfortunately become mere cold numbers, numbers to which we have become accustomed or worse, numb.

So I asked myself, how can peace prevail on earth? How can we, as members of the Manchester family,
as persons of ability and conviction who are guided by our respect for the infinite worth of every individual,
inspired by a church steeped in the history of peace making,
how can we stem the tide of aimless, endless wars that cause immeasurable amount of pain and suffering on earth?

How can we help achieve such noble goal?

And every time I think about this, I find that the answer lies in one place.
Right here
If we want peace to prevail on earth then peace must prevail within, for when peace prevails within we become an unstoppable force of love that strives for justice for all.

May the peace, blessings and mercy of God be upon all of you. And may His everlasting peace shine through each and every one of you.