It made me wonder how many people in our current context find themselves in similar situations, trying to make their way through news, myriad questions, polarization of answers and inevitable side-taking and name-calling. People running here and there, searching for the truth without taking the time to discern the underlying questions.

So, what is truth? It's a question whose answer will never be found in a polarized stance. The answer can be found only in dialogue and the ritual of relationship.

If you don't know the kind of person I am
And I don't know the kind of person you are
A pattern that others made may prevail in the world
And following the wrong god home we may miss our star.

And as elephants parade holding each elephant's tail,
But if one wanders the circus won't find the park,
I call it cruel and maybe the root of all cruelty
To know what occurs but not recognize the fact.

In this post-9-11 world, these realities swirl around us. We are waking up five years after this atrocity in a world suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome on a global scale. Some claim to have the answers and the truth, but there are many of us who have many more unanswered questions in search of the truth.

What is the truth? Who do we believe? Who do we trust? What are the roots of our personal and global anxiety-ridden situations? Who is friend and who is foe? Do we just hook our trunks to the tails in front of us and go blindly through the circus? I think not. We are called into a deeper wisdom.

And so I appeal to a voice, to something shadowy,
A remote important region in all who talk:
Though we could fool each other, we should consider —
Lest the parade of our mutual life get lost in the dark.

More important, it is about ordinary people discovering their voice with great courage to be and speak their portion of the truth even if it goes against the dominating flow. Great power can be found there.

We have a great history in San Antonio of an interfaith community that is built on relationships bringing us through the civil rights movement, 9-11 and so much more! Don't you think we owe it to those who died on 9-11 and future generations to remember who we are as a community, believe in each other, trust each other, seek truth together and find our soul force again?

For it is important that awake people be awake,
Or a breaking line may discourage them back to sleep;
The signals we give — yes, no, or maybe —
Should be clear: the darkness around us is deep.