The game is at a stalemate, 0-0
It’s the bottom of the ninth inning
A slender young woman comes up to bat
Is it Humanity?
I tell her, “You have to hit the ball as hard as you can, you have to do it now.
If you get to third base, head for home.”
She’s left handed
She hits the first pitch far out into right field
Stunned, she starts walking towards first base
I tell her to run!
She makes it to second, looking over her shoulder
I tell her to run!
She rounds third, I tell her to make it home
She comes up to home, and there is someone holding the ball
They are both stunned, time stands still, nobody moves
I tell her, “Touch home plate, touch home plate!”
She touches the plate
Game over
We embrace
She is so thin and bony
Never did I expect a home run

A friend of mine asked for some brief ideas on “Where do we go from here?” Oftentimes the best way to see the path forward is to start from the distant goal and ask what has to happen before that, and before that, etc. Starting from the top goal and working backwards to the more immediate goal, this is my crazy idea for a bridge to world security:

Some day in the near future, within our lifetime: The U.S. Congress authorizes and funds a Department of Peace or something like it, perhaps transforming the Homeland Security, Education, Health and State Departments to be well-funded agencies focused on violence prevention and human development.