"Orders from a higher authority:"

I sat on the plane writing this thought: How many of us live in a safe haven? Our protective shell, our home in a nutshell. Peace and safety surrounding our being. How does this cave of modern times differ from the time of bears breaking into our cabin and confronting us? We still deal with
earthquakes, rains and tides but our relative safety is quite good. How did we ever get to this place of comfort where the local government does not pry into our being? We hear about the rampage but the flooded waters move elsewhere.
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As the plane landed a strange site appeared in my view. People were standing like statues looking like an abstract painting in orange. Some stood on bandanas, some on rifles. They were scattered about like droppings from a plane.
So what is going on I ask? Someone handed me a folded paper with writing on it. The paper said,
"Orders from a higher authority:"
The sun was hot. Heat wavered over the red earth. The shine of wet skin could be seen for miles. Our higher authority had given the order. The earth looked like hell. For as far as you could see they had come, so there they stood. Most were in agony. The physical and mental adjustments were excruciating. Bodies were shaking internally. They were ordered to stand still and at attention, so they stood. Acres of aches stood still. Emotion reverberated in their minds but they had orders. They would stand until they got it right.
A lifetime of hate was being forced to the surface. He was ordered to stand still. He was told that peace would come. He was wired like steel. He had the strength to endure this pain and he would. He was ordered to do so. He stood like a statue, with his weapon or bandana under his feet.
Peace and Goodwill Prevail.
These orders came from a higher authority.
***
They must stand still for peace.
You can go to work and slay beef, fowl or pork and not to many folks will say what you do is evil. You provide a service for the folks in your neighborhood. You can on occasion just decide you have had enough and call work and say, " I won't be in today."
You take the day off and enjoy what life gives you. You made a decision, a simple decision.
The folks in the West and Middle East can lay their weapons down on the ground and stand on them at attention. They can contemplate peace. They can stand thirty soldiers deep. They can stand and think and do nothing but fight for peace in their solitude. They can stand erect until every muscle in there body aches for peace. They can let every killing emotion pass through their system of thought. They can stand still until peace comes over their bodies. Some will want to strangle the veined throat of their neighbor but they must stand still for peace. This is a very painful process as they look down at their killing weapons. They must follow orders they are now soldiers for peace. They must stand still for peace."
***

"Confucius thought that a ruler who had to resort to force had already failed as a ruler",
so that is where the world is now. We are standing in the timeline of violence.
When one man stands still and ends the violence another man will shoot him off the pedestal of peace.
How many men will die for nothing?
This is what they can do.
They must stand still for peace.