Shelagh,
That is a beautiful poem.
There is the government. There are the people of a land who are kind and good and accepting. Then there are those who are not, who hate anyone who is different and see the answer is just getting rid of the people of a certain religion or color. And they somehow gain enough power to kill and maim and traumatize little children. I don't know the answer, except that we all need to get to know each other. That was the hope in 1962, many years ago.
The following is in my Cuba book in the chapter on other happenings in 1962:
The world’s first communications satellite, Telstar, was launched into space and was ranked as one of the scientific wonders of the world. This 170-pound satellite was “thrown” into orbit July 10, 1962, to orbit 3000 miles above the earth. The U.S. was then able to transmit TV to Britain and France, and these countries could transmit pictures back to the U.S. through this satellite.
What this scientific wonder did was pick up microwave signals carrying TV or other communication, amplify them billions of times, and transmit them to receiving stations thousands of miles away. It was designed and built by Bell Telephone Laboratories, paid for by American Telephone and Telegraph Company and launched from Cape Canaveral, now Cape Kennedy, by NASA, with AT&T paying the launching costs.
The English historian, Arnold Toynbee, decided that this scientific wonder might offer new hope for “the survival of the human race.” It was his philosophy that Telstar would help people get to know each other, and thus treat those in other countries better than if they were strangers. Toynbee believed Telstar was more than a sign of scientific progress, but also hope for a more peaceful future.
Carol