These Are The Ways To Be

What are the values
That a nation
A People
A person
Should work for?

What are the ways
Of being
That a nation
A People
A person
Should strive for?

What are the most
Valuable
Ways to be
That do not
Depend on...

Religion
Politics
Money
Fame
Or power?

Be a light in the darkness
Be a place of peace in wartime
Be a promoter of life in the face of death
Be a voice of reason in the midst of confusion
Be an example of courage in a world of fear
Be a beacon of hope in a sea of despair
Be an expression of freedom in the prison of lies
Be an orator of conviction in the forum of cynicism
Be a statement of simplicity in the marketplace of vanity
Be a source of nourishment in the land of hunger
Be a symbol of tolerance in the halls of bigotry
Be a gentle hand in a rough neighborhood
Be the master of a touch, a word, an act, and an attitude that heals
Be who we really are in that place where we all meet as one

These are the values
These are the ways to be
That will bring us
Through this valley
Of the dark shadow of today
And onto the mountaintop
Of a bright dawn of tomorrow