Dawn Shegonee emailed a week or so ago to tell me about an exhibit on Call for Peace that was being displayed at the McFarland United Church of Christ. She wanted me to come out and take some photos because she felt that during this holiday period, that their message for world peace was an important message. Dawn has a way of being persistent and so I relented.

I was glad that Dawn was persistent because once I got to the church, it brought back so many good memories. José J. Madera had drummed for them along with Eddie from Atimevu. Cultures from the four corners of the world were represented, each giving way to the other to drum and dance and then also to play and dance in harmony with one another.

In these times when political forces are trying to divide us and pull us apart and even wonder what it does mean to be American, it is important to remember that we are all bound together by our common humanity.

I have been fortunate in my lifetime to have witnessed and experienced that truth of our common humanity. And in their own way, I feel that all of the religions of the world express this truism in their own way and form. As I was brought up a Catholic — and it being Christmastime — I will talk about the message of Jesus Christ. His message — and that of prophets from other religions — called for us to reach a higher level where it wasn’t just about me as an individual, but about us as a people. It called us to arise from our “dog-eat-dog” existence and to look out for one another. “love they neighbor as thyself.” The tale of the Good Samaritan taught us to care for strangers and people perhaps different from us.