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THE HEALER OF ALL OUR ILLS V. hie Aeronaut Gordon Cooper was in orbit about the earth at a speed of more than 17,000 miles an hour, there appeared an item in the local paper which told of the first airplane commissioned by the United States Army from the Wright Brothers in 1908. It had to be able to fly at an average '•peed of 40 miles per hour over a 10 mile course. The plane on its trial flight, July 30. 1909, did act ia!Iy fly at an average of 42.6 miles per hour from Ft. Myers, Virginia, to Alexandria, more than 10 miles. Now, although we have learned to take a tomic power and the space age for granted, when we think of that time (and some of us remember it), we feel 'a.vd. One hundred years ago,when Baha u ilah began to promulgate his Message of the approching age of peace and the unity of the nations, races, and religions of the earth, the I'nited States was in the midst of a bloody war and had only just freed its slaves. A large part of the world was stable, governed by powerful and bril liant empires; colonies seemed likely to remain colonies forever; the dark races were called “the white man'* turden." Where are those empires? Where are those colonies now? Kipling, whose attitude towards the colonial peoples has often been mis understood, voice a foreboding of what might come, at the time of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in lo97. (Baha’u’llah had sent letters of warning to all the great kings and emperors at least twenty years before.) Kip.mg wrote: 1 he tumult and the shouting dies; the Captains and the Kings depart: Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice. An humble and a contrite heart. T...-called, our navies melt away; On dune and headland sinks the fire: Lo, all our pomp of yesterday Is one with Nineveh and Tyre! Judge of the Nations, spare us yet, Lest we forget - - lest we forget! I he change came with bewildering velocity. Our ordered life was dislo cated. Cracks appeared in the political and social structures of the world. Great rifts have opened between na tions, within nations, in communities, in family life. We even speak glibly now about split personalities. Social injustices, hitherto latent and com placently accepted, became running sores. The gap between the genera tions widened. Two world wars brought about great migratons of peoples and a clash of culture and mores. Colonies became nations over night, and whole peoples, as well as indisiduals, had suddenly to become mature. These changes are continuous and painful. Esery day we stagger under shock in the news —rots, revolutions, crime, hate, violence, and the rumors of total destruction. How can we ad just ourselves to the increasing velocity of this change? We seem to be whirled toward something, and we must find out what it is. No one w ho belies es in God can 'tipposc that He does not preside over His universe, that all these changes are fortuitous. What, then, is He doing with us? The Scriptures of all the great re ligions foretell an era of peace, when the Kingdom of Heaven shall become the Kingdom of this earth, when "na tion shall not lift sword against na tion, neither shall they learn war any more." We are accustomed to think of the milleniuni as something to come in the for-off, indefinite future, but the Scriptures of the Baha'i Faith tell us that the time has come. Now. In this century. It is this towards which we aie being whirled, rapidly and ruthlessly. The world moses to its des t ny. The time has come for the peoples of the earth to unite or perish. en the scientists will tell us this now. Some of the poets of the nine teenth century caught glimpses of it much earlier. Shelly wrote in 1821: The world's great age begins anew. The golden years return. The earth doth like a snake renew Her winter weeds outworn: tasen smiles, and faiths and empires gleam l ,ke wrecks of a dissolving dream. Tennyson, who foretold in Locks ley Hall aerial warfare and "The Parli ament of man, the Federation of the HAVE YOU NOTICED THE DIFFERENCE? THIS IS NO ORDINARY DROP OF WATCR . . . but a very special drop pi quart/ softened water, stored and always available tor iipmcdvde delivery to you, our customers, when and where \u i m.-ed it. PLENTY OF QUALITY world." wrote in that same poem. Vet 1 doubt not tho’ the ages one increasing purpose runs. And the thoughts of men are widen'd with the process of the suns. \V hat then can we do in so crucial a period.1 To begin with, let us rejoice in the signs of approaching unity wherever we find them: the Lnited Nations; jhc many peace movements which have arisen; inter racial groups and bi-racial committees which are devoting themselves to the solution of our gravest domestic problem; the long and uncompromsing stand of the Society of Friends against violence; the ecumenical movement; the libera lizing and unifying influence of Pope John, whom all meti of good will are now mourning, and the world-wide Baha'i Community' in which all the diverse elements of the human family are blended into a unity, rich and beautiful in its diversity and held to gether by the strong bond of the love of God. For love is the answer. It is the heart of all the religions, the life force of mankind. The world. Abdu 1 Baha said, is dying from lack of love. We have to learn to love — all men. even our enemies. Christ said: "This is my command ment. That ye love one another, as 1 have loved you.” In the writings of BahaVIlah, we are told th'at. when we submerge our will in the will of God, we see with His eyes and hear with His ears. His vision is universal. Ours must become so. God sees the divine image in all men. When Abdu’l Baha was a^ked why all who had been in His presence seemed to be so happv. He answered; Because 1 see in cverv face th ■ face of my F ather. In this dav it is imperative that we stretch ourselves, so that our vision and our love mav become all embracing. The love of God is poured out con tinually upon His creation. His bounty is like the sun. It contains all that we need for spiritual wholeness and growth. It is vast and unlimited, and it is for all alike. No one can say, "I own the sunshine." No one can stake out a part of it and post it: "No tres passing.” And we are glad that it is so. So it is with the bounty of God. When we open ourselves to that infi nite and sustaining love, we begin to shed its illumination on all about us. Then we can love the world, not theo retically, but in reality. This is the healer of all our ills. — Dr. Garreta Busev PICK BI-RACIAL COMMITTEE M.ivoi Emrr.erson Dexter an nounced a 24-member bi-racial committee at Tuesday s meet ing of Hie Champaign City Ci tuned The Councd unanimously ap proved the names submitted. Dexter said the first meeting of the committee would be in about two weeks. | jn the four weeks it look him to form the committee, Dexter said, only two persons he invit ed to participate declined. He said they would have been hap I py to serve but they were un 4 able to give up any lime from their businesses. Committee members Dexter named were: Jame« Quinlan. Robert Bowles, Robert Sink. Scott Anderson, Arnold Yarber, Fr. John Deane, A1 Rivers, Joseph Clark, Charles E Phillips, Dwyer Murphy, Julius X. Davis, Charles Petry, Richard W. Paterson. Aaron Kurland, Sy Bing. John Frank lin Bobbie Williamson. Cecil Noison. Willard Hansen. Frank, Burns. Lyle Smith, Hal Dawson, joe Somers and Rev. Oscar Plumb c •r. 3 t C = <S u - Lu V £ « n '3 ■= o =