When I first met Ali and his father, they were visibly nervous. They were the outsiders, far away from home, and in a strange place.
All of that changed when Ali received his lifesaving heart surgery just a few hours ago. Now, Ali’s father is smiling, shaking hands, and treating the hospital like it’s his home. Ali is kissing all of his nurses and anybody that walks close enough to his bed in the ICU.
Life gets immeasurably lighter when you know your child is going to be okay.
We hear a lot of people asking what it means to wage peace. It starts with standing with the broken, listening to the unheard, and recognizing potential where everybody else sees despair. It takes humility to see the world as it is, but the imagination to see it as it could be. Then it takes the courage to do something about it.
Peace can look like a lot of things, but today – it looks a whole lot like Ali and his father.
