"So who is there to carry the ball but us, Peter?"

      "Indeed, who will stand in the hustings fighting for humanity if people like us don't even dare to do it?" I replied. "Alright, I'll do. I'll face they hyenas."

      "The world can change overnight, Peter, when we begin to translate the Principle of Universal Love into life in the best way we can. But changing the world isn't up to us. Mozart made this quite clear in his opera the Marriage of Figaro. He didn't change the world, nor did he pretend that he would. But he did lay the Principle of Universal Love squarely on the table and gave the audience his homework assignment for them to take home, to implement this principle in their own life. Isn't that what you said? He challenged them all to do this, probably knowing that only a few would take up the challenge, and even fewer would implement it. But he stood on the podium nevertheless."

      "What he set up remains a challenge to the present day," I countered Anton. "Two hundred years have passed and it still remains a challenge. We don't have the luxury of limitless time anymore, Anton. The war against war has to be won now. Our killing machines have become too powerful for mankind to survive the continuation of war. We need this victory, the New Peace of Westphalia, the new renaissance that closes the door on war. We need it now."

      "In this case rewrite the ending for Mozart's Figaro in the way we need to hear it today," said Anton. "Do it on the podium." She paused. "But tell me, how would you make it end to meet the needs of today?"

      "Mozart put the Principle of Universal Love on the table, but he didn't follow through with it. He set up a paradox for society to resolve and left it with that. He gave himself that luxury, because he didn't know how critical the solving of this paradox is for the survival of mankind on this planet. He didn't know we would be facing atom bombs one day, and the still more deadly DU bombs, and that our dirty uranium bombs would keep on killing people for billions of years after they're dropped. Had he known this he would have put the force of the urgency on the table and attached it to the Principle of Universal Love. He would have challenged society to accept the necessary ending. If I was to rewrite the ending that Mozart presented in which the Count apologized for responding with his heart and soul to the Principle of Universal Love, as faintly and perverse as this had been, I would have shouted, CUT, that doesn't work! The Cont literally groveled in the dirt before the Countess, seeking her forgiveness for his love for Susanna, Figaro's bride and wife. The Countess graciously forgave him. I would have said CUT again. I would have brought the boy Cherubino onto the scene at the instant that the ensnaring plot had been discovered and the Count was begging and the Countess forgiving.  I would have given the boy the role to vigorously denounce them both. I would have the boy denounce the Count for his self-denial. It would have the boy step up to the Count while he was still on his knees, groveling before the countess, and have the boy raise him up. He would raise the Count gently with a song of praise for his daring to love Susanna against all impediments that society in its smallness of mind has imposed. He would hail the Count as the only truly honest man on the scene. Then Cherubino would kiss the Countess and raise her up out her self-imposed exile from society into the little world where universal love has no place. He would raise her out of this environment where universal love is treason that needs to be forgiven, and put her with his beautiful melodies onto the higher platform where all bonds that love is forging are honored. He would then step aside and invite the Count and the Countess to embrace each other on that higher platform and in the same melody invite everyone to join them on this platform."

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Stories about  Love from novels by Rolf A. F. Witzsche