>What a delight to open the CNN homepage yesterday and see the smiling faces of two Indonesian young men holding up a sign that read “War Cannot Stop Football.” They were attending the Asian Cup football/soccer finals yet bearing a message with much deeper and broader possibilities than appeared at first read.
   Sure, it’s a welcome change to see a photo of someone or something other than a terrorist or tragedy or actor being arrested. And sure, it’s great to know that the Iraqi’s, who won the cup, were able to temporarily transcend the hell they’ve been living. 
   However, there are two more important points to be made here.
   First, for over a year on radio, and now five days a week on this blog, I make a point of bringing you good news with the intention of uplifting your spirit and providing hope in a world that often times seems bent on destroying it. I deeply believe that what we intend, think about, talk about, look at, and participate in are the ingredients that, literally, make up our lives.  
   I can’t speak for you, but when I opened up that homepage and saw the smiling faces on those young men holding that banner, I felt great. It actually made me smile. I felt hopeful, too. Not just for football, but for mankind.
   Secondly, we so often dismiss the young and the elderly, thinking the former have not yet much wisdom and the latter past their usefulness.  But it’s youth who hold that idealism and sense of limitless possibility and whose passion and positivity are contagious. It’s the aged who have lived enough life to see glimpses of the end of that life, who can provide us the greatest perspective for what really matters. 
   What really matters is to combine the hopefulness and positivity of youth with the perspective and wisdom of age in order to prioritize our thoughts and actions in ways that support hope, peace and joy.
   I know that it’s possible to someday open up CNN’s home page and see two children holding a banner that will say, “War Cannot Stop Peace.”
   What a smile that will be. For all of us. And by the way, there’s a “Winner’s Cup” for that achievement as well.
   It’s called Heaven on Earth.

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