By Jim Young, Paths to Peace

Try this exercise in imagination:

Close your eyes and see your self standing on the edge of a vast line on the ground. Now as you look about, you see two things.

First, it occurs to you that this is not a straight line. You are standing on a minute portion of a vast circle, the size of which is almost inconceivable.

Second, you see many people standing with you on this vast circle. Closest to you are your loved ones &8212; spouses, children, parents, grandparents.

Next to them on both sides are good friends and neighbors. Next to them are people you see often but may hardly know at all except to see and say hello. More and more people are on this circle &8212; young, old, all races, men and women, gay and straight, able and disabled &8212; more kinds of people than you can imagine.

What I have described for you is the Lakota view of creation. This immense circle is the sacred hoop of creation, and on it stands all creatures, and all of creation.

At the center of the hoop is Wakan Tanka, the creator of all that is. Simply by virtue of standing with all creation on this hoop, we are all (all creatures, plants, rocks, land, water and air) are relatives.

In fact the most appropriate means of saying something like &8220;amen&8221; to a Lakota brother or sister would be to say, &8220;Mitakuye oyasin.&8221; It means &8220;all my relatives.&8221;

The implications of this are clear. We are all relatives created by the One who is known by many names: Wakan Tanka, El Shaddai, Yahweh, God. If we are all relatives, then we have a responsibility for the well being of our relatives, and, most significantly, if we harm a part of creation, then we harm ourselves.

This is rather sophisticated theology from a people who, in the 19th century, were dismissed by white settlers as godless savages. It may be stated in ways that are a bit different to us but the sacred hoop model of creation does not conflict with how some (not all) Christian theologians would describe creation and God&8217;s relationship with us.

It will come as little surprise to most people who know me, but I had my fears and misgivings about the war in Iraq well before the invasion began.

Now as the war enters its sixth year and the number of war dead has reached 4,000, I am heartsick at the cost to us in human lives.

And that 4,000 grows exponentially when one considers the numbers of wives, husbands, parents, children and other relatives who grieve the loss of each one of these our relatives. Nor can we ignore the numbers of Iraqi dead who are also our relatives in creation. According to credible outside reporting groups like the British medical journal, The Lancet and the World Health Organization, the number of Iraqi civilian casualties could exceed 1 million dead.

I do not write this to point fingers and make accusations. Nor do I want to dishonor the memory of those who have died in this war.

What is done is done.

All that I want to do in this column is to have each of us begin to fathom the real cost of this war in terms of our war dead and also in terms of those wounded both physically and emotionally.

One way to comprehend the human cost of the war is to come to the Edgewater Park Bandshell for the Paths to Peacestock Festival on the afternoon of April 19.

There we will have several music acts performing around the theme of peace in our time. We are also honored to have the &8220;Eyes Wide Open&8221; display that day. It is a touring display of nearly 50 sets of combat boots, one for each of the men and women from Minnesota who have been killed in Iraq. The display of the boots and the concomitant reading of the deceased soldiers&8217; names will be moving reminders of the sacrifices of these men and women and of the terrible cost of war for all who attend.

We hope you will join us.

Let us remember and pray for our relatives lost in this war and for those who grieve those losses daily. Mitakuye Oyasin. Amen.

The Rev. James Young is the rector of Christ Episcopal Church, Albert Lea. He is a co-chairman of Paths to Peace in Freeborn County.