A powerful, wise, loving, peaceful metaphor:

A nation is defined as a group of people with a common language, a common past and common dreams. By this definition, any parent will tell you that all the world’s babies are children of a single nation. They have a common language, a common past, common dreams. They speak the same, get angry and cry at the same things, laugh the same way. When my three children were young, I marveled at how they communicated effortlessly with other babies, no matter the language of the lullabies their parents sang them at night.

... from "All the World’s Babies Are Children of a Single Nation" by Ayman Odeh, in a New York Times essay calling for peace:

The whole of this nation of infants — Jewish, Arab, Palestinian, Israeli — wants just one thing: to grow up to a good life. It’s a simple dream. Our role as leaders is simple too: to make that possible.

As adults, we all become expatriates of that nation, and we take the dream of a good life with us: To put food on the table for our families. To know we are free to go where we want. To speak, pray and celebrate as we like. To come home safely at the end of the day. To know our loved ones will too.

_{NYT gift-link - (cf Our Balance Sheet (1999-09-22), Independence Day (2001-07-04), ...) - ^z - 2023-10-19}