Let It Be 

10/13/2006 - Visibly shakenshaken from the sound of the blast, we stood up and wiped the dirt from our pants. Suddenly, a farmer who had lost a limb to a landmine in the region came up to thank us for helping to restore peace in his village. I felt so unwarrented. There were so many landmines left to detonate, and yet we had just uncovered ONE. Smiling, he limped over to us and presented freshly made "boloonee"--a delicious Afghan bread stuffed with fresh green onions harvested from fields which Roots of Peace had demined. These were very poor people, and they probably sacrificed the food for their family to extend their most sincere hospitality to their visitors. The Afghan people are proud, and it is their culture to extend hospitality to visitors --especially those who make their fields safe for future generations.

As I bit into the warm boloonee, it was the most delicious bread I had ever eaten--perhaps because it was baked by the loving hands of an Afghan mother in appreciation for making the soils safe for her children to play. IMAGINE, if only the world may begin to remove "seeds of terror" from the earth from the ground up --one landmine at a time-- then global citizens may start to break bread with their neighbors again. IMAGINE, if amber waves of grain grew upon former minefields, and the American way may lead to a pathway in Afghanistan where the "roots" of peace may flourish from the ground up--not the top down.

As I walked down the dusty road by myself as the Afghan sun began to set, I realized how far I had come from my childhood dreams in California to bring "hope" to families half ways across the world. Quietly, I began humming another favorite Beattle song: "Let It Be, Let It Be...Mother Mary Calls to Me, Singing Words of Wisdom, Let It Be..."

Yes, there will be an answer, Let It Be... By removing one landmine at a time--turning seeds of terror into seeds of hope...from the fertile soils of Afghanistan.