Do you find that when you give to others, you also receive?

The other night I was watching the beginning ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy. Competitors from eighty countries walked as one athletic nation during this opening celebration. It began with Greece and ended with Italy. The other countries marched in alphabetically representing their own country. Among the procession I noticed a group of people, all with smiling faces marching together. They were from Slovakia, a small country that is bordered by Poland and Hungary. I watched as these people took such pride in their country as they were waving their flag and waving to the TV cameras.

Performers came together all wearing red to form the shape of a beating heart, representing love.

There were 35,000 fans and some 2,500 athletes who gathered at this huge stadium in Italy to witness the opening ceremony. The International Olympic committee president Jacques Rogge told the Olympic athletes, “Your achievements will inspire and motivate future generations. Our world today is in need of peace and brotherhood, the values of the Olympic Games. May these games be held in peace in the true spirit of the Olympic Truce.”

At this opening ceremony they also featured Yoko Ono, the widow of John Lennon. Imagine by Lennon was playing in the background. Yoko spoke of John’s Universal Peace Values, “Imagine peace, you may say I’m a dreamer but I’m not the only one. Each one of us has the power to change the world. Visualize peace. Its time for action. Be the peace.”

Then in the background the music became louder and Peter Gabriel sat at the piano playing and singing Imagine. Thousands of people joined him as they all swayed, sang and waved lit flashlights. (What a sight!) All the nations were united as one. They began singing, “Imagine there’s no countries, it isn’t hard to do, nothing to kill or die for, no religion too. Imagine all the people living life in peace.” The audience continued waving flashlights, swaying and singing in the spirit of the Olympics... “Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can. No need for greed or hunger, or a brotherhood of man. Imagine all the people sharing all the world.”

An old Italian proverb goes:
Chi troba un amico, trova un tesoro
Loosely translated, it means:
Whomever finds a friend, finds a treasure

Several years ago a friend of mine was seriously injured in an accident. He had to have an operation on his brain. We didn’t know how it would all turn out. We prayed and prayed and thanked God for hearing our prayers. My friend came through the operation. His family and I were there for him. There were six of us. The family came as often as they could and I was there for him as much as I could be also. Someone was always there to support him. His condition was critical. We weren’t sure if he would be able to talk like he used to. We didn’t know what to expect. We continued visiting him. The doctor and his nurses told me how much our visits meant to him. They said that we were helping him heal. He couldn’t have made it this far without our loving support. A month later, he was still in the hospital. The doctor said he was healing miraculously. I told him that we prayed a lot for him. They told me that by being there, it was vital to his healing process.

He had to have a second operation a month later. He came through this operation successfully as well. They had expected it to take many months to heal but it didn’t. The doctors, nurses and their assistants commented that it was a miracle how fast he was healing. Both operations were a success and they were all surprised at how quickly he had progressed.

The oneness of the people at the winter Olympics in Italy, the words spoken and the song Imagine with all the people holding hands, swaying and singing – all of it brought me to tears that night. I saw love flowing as a wave of energy.

The harmony I witnessed that night was on a global scale. It was so healing. If only we could live in a world that expressed that peace.

Peace begins within each of us. If a handful of people can pray and help create miraculous healing in one person, “imagine” what we could accomplish if we came together on a larger scale with a focused intent to be of service to each other. Imagine.

Imagine all the people
living life in Peace.

Gerri Magee is director of advertising and public relations and assistant to the editor of phenomeNEWS. She continues to share her thoughts “On The Path” in this column. You can write her at gerri@phenomenews.com.