Shalom Begins with "We"

Shalom begins in a community - "let us create man in our image," says God at the creation. It was the dawn of shalom, when darkness was replaced with light.
       Thousands and thousands of years later modern man has made shalom into a ME rather than a WE.
       And there can be no shalom when it is singular. Shalom is always plural and many - we, our, us.
       The moment we consider shalom as "the many" rather than "the one" we are faced with the question: Who is the many? Another way to ask it is, Who is my neighbor?
       Increasingly, the answer to that question is a great challenge. Often times our neighbor or work colleague or grocery assistant is not like me. He or she is "other" - other culture, other language, other skin color, other faith tradition.
      It is into this otherness that I believe God calls us to shalom. The "we" of shalom is diverse and scattered and multi. This is the journey to shalom.