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The renowned poet Bertolt Brecht wrote to posterity, to those born later: "What kind of times are they when a talk about trees is almost a crime, because it implies silence about so many horrors?" They say to me, "Eat and drink, be glad you have it." But how can I eat and drink if I snatch what I eat from the starving, and my glass of water belongs to one dying of thirst? And yet, I eat and drink. You will emerge from the flood in which we have gone under. Remember, when you speak of our failings, the dark time too which you have escaped. And towards the end: But you, when the time comes at last and man is a helper to man, think of us with forbearance. Are we in a time when man has become a helper to man? We are spiritual people from the spiritual world; we are all spiritual world people. Business people, people of action and thought, politicians—all have asked the question today: If our desire is for peace, if our love and life is dedicated to peace, if the traditions we grow from and the spiritual traditions we embrace speak about peace, why is there no peace? Perhaps only by asking that question with our soul will we eventually open the door to peace. The youth representatives were rightly the last to speak before a summary from your midst, I proclaim. Because they are asking us. As one parable says, a young man asked an old man who had come to a wicked city to preach peace and justice. Nobody listened. The young man said, "Are you not a foolish old man? Your hair has grown gray, and nobody has ever listened to you." The old man replied, "Young man, when I came to the city, I really believed that I could change it, that I could make it a better place. In time, I realized that I could not. People would not listen to me. But you know why I keep speaking and why I shout? It is out of the conviction and the desire that when I cannot change the city, I never want the city to change me." In this world, young men and women, children, we older ones are planting fruit trees. We may never be able to enjoy the fruit when our days are up. But we know that we did not come into a world without fruit. And we do not want, and will not, leave you in a world that has no fruit trees. I am aware from the beginning that I stand on sacred ground, protected, kept, and saved by the Aboriginal people of this country and this land. They are our hosts, and I thank you that, despite the anguish and the pain, despite the suffering, you have kept this land and allow us with love to live on it. To you we say, together in hope, we march into a different world—a world, Swāmījī, that every individual in this room and together will create. A world that will be a world of justice, a world of peace, a world of sharing, a world of love. A world that was blessed in its creation and will be blessed when we all will feel and live in messianic time. Yes, my child, yes, my child, eyes are full of tears of apprehension. I so hope that you at least will be proud of that day. We committed, body and soul, for your survival. May God bless us. --- Recording location: Australia, Sydney, World Peace Forum 2003