The emerging photos of American soldiers sexually abusing and torturing Iraqi prisoners are so profoundly demoralizing. I find it especially hard, being a parent of a teenager.

How should I best talk to my daughter about this? I’d rather she never knew that such depravity existed – especially now, at 15! But, talk we had to do, and our conversation went quickly to the subject of good and evil, acknowledging that the human spirit can sink into evil using holocaust parallels.

I’ve been searching for a hopeful new paradigm to hold out for her that shows the possibility of a future where humans flourish in their full potential of doing good.

Call it serendipity, but a poem by an unknown author came to me in the mail the other day called “We Are The New Civilization.” I am impressed at how it offers a new compass for human behavior, and best of all my daughter’s eyes lit up when she read it herself. Maybe yours will, too?

We Are The New Civilization.
We are here.
We are waking up now, out of the past, to dream a bigger dream.
We are friends and equals.
We are diverse and unique, and we’re united for something bigger than our differences.
We believe in freedom and cooperation, abundance and harmony.
We find our own guidance, and we discern our own truth.
We go in many directions, and yet we refuse to disperse.
We have many names. We speak many languages.
WE are local. We are global.
We are in all regions of the world. We’re everywhere in the air.
We are universe being aware of itself. We are the wave of evolution.
We are in every child’s eyes. We face the unknown with wonder and excitement.
We are messengers from the future, living in the present.
We come from silence, and we speak our truth.
We cannot be quieted, because our voice is within everyone.
We have no enemies. No boundaries can hold us.
We respect the cycles and expressions of nature, because we are nature.
We don’t play to win, we play to live and learn.
We act out of inspiration, love and integrity.
We explore, we discover, we feel, and we laugh.
We are building a world that works for everyone.
We endeavor to live our lives to the fullest potential.
We are independent, self-sufficient and responsible.
We relate to each other in peace, with compassion and respect, we unite in community.
We celebrate the wholeness within and around us all.
We dance to the rhythm of creation.
We weave the threads of the new times.
We are the new civilization.

This poem was printed in the newsletter Always in Season,by Donna Henes, Urban Shaman, Mama Donna’s Tea Garden, (P.O. Box 380403), Exotic Brooklyn, NY 11238-0403. Subscriptions are $28.