Category Archives: Social Issues

December 4, 2016

Sai Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 4 December 2016

By Kat Myrman


I really do believe the last line in this week’s Shi Sai. Nothing compares to love. Love is quite complex. As the song says, “It is a many splendored thing”. Love is a big deal. As I consider love, and my own personal calling to be more loving in this challenging time, I realize that the dysfunctional reality of family of ours as a “united nation” is no longer something we can hide or hide from.

There are several types of love I discovered when I did a bit of research. The ancient Greeks gave us several types of love to consider:

Eros (sexual passion or desire, considered by some to be dangerous or irrational),

Philia (deep friendship, a more highly prized type of love and also equated with a term called storge which is associated with the love parents have for their children), 

Ludus (playful love or affection between children or young love, associated with flirting and and also fun between friends, joking and dancing), 

Agape (love for everyone, the most radical love of all associated with selflessness and charity), 

Pragma (longstanding love, considered a mature love that is exemplified by long-married couples who have perfected the art of patience, tolerance and compromise) and

Philautia (self-love and compassion – Aristotle described philautia thusly: “All friendly feelings for others are an extension of a man’s feelings for himself.”)

So what does all this mean? Most importantly, what does it mean for me personally, especially when I am hurt or beset with conflict, can I still I declare in all sincerity “love overcomes hate”?

The truth is that I have the capacity for each of these types of love. If I truly believe in the power of love, deepening my understanding of each nuance, each facet, equips me to respond when I am struggling. i have the ability to grow as a person when i am willing to see where I am lacking. The Greeks have created a wonderful roadmap and I know of another too…

1 Corinthians 13
English Standard Version (ESV)

13-If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2-And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3-If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,[a] but have not love, I gain nothing.

4-Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5-or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;[b] 6-it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7-Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8-Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9-For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10-but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.11-When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12-For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

13-So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Yep, I really do believe the last line of this Shi Sai. Be kind to one another this week. Love and peace to you.

Sai Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 4 December 2016

all woman-girls who recall
frosted roses fade
it’s where dreams are born
“You’ll do,” she thought.
I remember a flood
fallout from Faustian pacts…
Your fruits have been many but you have lost yourself and are fading as we speak
nothing compares to love

~kat

7 Comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Life Lessons, Random Thoughts and Musings, Social Issues, Spirituality, Week in Review

December 2, 2016

Faustian – Friday’s Word of the Day Haiku

By Kat Myrman

faustian

TGIF! That’s all I can say! It’s been a rough several weeks for many of us. And it gets crazier each and every day! Today’s Dictionary.com Word of the Day is another of those blasted words that has a poignant parallel to current events. Last week I dodged the bullet, so to speak, and refused to apply the theme of my haiku to the obvious. But there is no way around it this week…Faustian…how else does one explain the madness that we are currently witnessing?

Dictionary.com defines Faustian as

  1. sacrificing spiritual values for power, knowledge, or material gain: a Faustian pact with the Devil. or
  2. of, relating to, or characteristic of Faust: a Faustian novel.

But it is the origin of the word that truly sent me over the edge…

Johann Faust (c1481–c1541), Latinized as Johannes Faustus, was an itinerant German alchemist, astrologer, magician, and thaumaturge. Legend has it that even though he was very successful, he became dissatisfied with his life and with the limits of human knowledge and therefore sold his soul to the Devil for limitless knowledge and pleasure for a limited time—the Faustian bargain. Faust in German means ”fist”; faustus in Latin means ”of favorable omen, auspicious.”

I know I don’t need to mention it, but it bears repeating, especially since many of you are not from the U.S. Just in case you might be wondering if I am one of those insane persons in the minority who dealt our country a lethal blow last month by voting for, well, you know who. At any rate, here goes…

I did NOT vote for Trump.

That being said, as much as I might want to scream from the rooftops, “He is not my president; he will NEVER be MY president!” I am reminded that the angry minority that voted for him thought that very same thing about my President these last eight years, misinformed and misguided though they may have been. They voted recently, many of them – especially those who claim to be Christians – by selling their soul, in true Faustian fashion, turning a blind eye to his misogyny, racism, privileged, narcissistic, bullying and lying behavior because basically, they were “mad” at a government that they believed was not serving their self-righteous needs. Oops sorry…too harsh? Oh well.

Apparently I am still stinging from the betrayal of many of my friends and family who voted for this monster. In my heart of hearts I know that they are not all those awful things that define the man that they voted for. And while I have admonished myself to be forgiving I am finding that this is an ongoing inner battle that I must fight each and every time I hear another one of his outrageous lies or his announcements of each vile cabinet appointment. “What were they, those who voted for him, thinking?” I think…

Taking a deep breath.

Like it or not, he is THE president-elect. Forgiving those I love for their error (IMHO of course) will, I’m sure, continue to be a thorn in my side, but one that I am determined to press through because I do love them.

As for my country? Just because I forgive the generally nice people who were blinded by his skulduggery, does not mean that I will not continue to stand for justice with every ounce of my being. It’s a fine line we walk, those of us who are awake. But the future depends on it.

Peace and LOVE to you all…kat

“We the People” reap
fallout from Faustian pacts…
elections matter!

kat ~ 2 December 2016

4 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Essays, Haiku, Life Lessons, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Social Issues, Spirituality, Word of the Day Haiku

November 24, 2016

Liberated – A Three Line Tale

By Kat Myrman

Photo by Sandis Helvigs via Unplash

“Of course you are welcome, you are always welcome to join us for the holidays, but as always, we ask that you abide by our rules, namely, no discussion of politics, religion and social issues allowed.”

I understood the rules because I had smiled silently invisible at their table many times before, politely passing stuffing, turkey and congealed salad to the right, always to the right, but this year for the the first time in years, I liberated myself from this annual masochistic ritual and declined their veiled invitation. 

In response they feigned their disappointment, relieved, I imagined, that they would be free to spew their misinformed, caustic blabber, unfettered by my silent winces from across the room, saying simply, “We will miss your face.”

kat ~ 24 November 2016

A Three Line Tale based on the photo above. More along the theme this week of letting go and nurturing my soul as I enjoy a peaceful Thanksgiving with my significant other at the Chinese Buffet. I am thankful, so thankful this year for the freedom of choice, for love and friendship and for family in small managed doses. May you find peace and harmony in simple pleasures this most unusual holiday season. 

24 Comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in 3 Line Tales, Challenges and Writing Prompts, Flash Fiction, Life Lessons, Random Thoughts and Musings, Social Issues, Spirituality

November 17, 2016

Utopia

By Kat Myrman

tltweek42

As the ruling class had promised, internment camps were established in every district to house the undesirables who were identified and sorted during the great purge, to be kept safe with their own kind: the immigrants, the refugees, the gays, the Muslims, non-Christians, Agnostics and Atheists, single, divorced and widowed women over 21 who did not have the covering of a husband, native peoples, the homeless and the disabled.

Small delegations from each sub-community were given authority to keep the peace, to report dissidents, who were swiftly removed to an undisclosed location and to order basic necessities, such as food and medicine for their respective areas.

It was meant to be a temporary inconvenience until everyone could be registered and vetted sufficiently to re-enter the regime, but the process was long and ridden with changing rules and red tape, and the longer it took, the more comfortable the outcasts became, staying behind their walls with their own kind, where it was safe.

~kat ~ 17 November 2016

For Sonya’s Three Line Tale Challenge based on the photo above by photo by Jace Grandinetti via Unsplash.

18 Comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Challenges and Writing Prompts, Flash Fiction, Life Lessons, Social Issues

November 15, 2016

The Walls We Build

By Kat Myrman


I hide in a cubicle dawn to dusk
Arranging travel for executives
Typing their profiting plans bits by byte
With a few quick breaks to brew myself tea

I hide in a cubicle dawn to dusk
Answering phone calls with veiled pleasantry
When asked for favors, I serve with a smile
Hoping to mask my deep fear from their gaze

I hide in a cubicle dawn to dusk
Lost in the hum of my blessed routine
Locked in a prison of my own making
Where I feel safe from their gloating eyes mocking

I hide in a cubicle dawn to dusk
Outed by friends who boast my deep secret
Hoping to prove they are not like the rest
Those who’d deny my rights as a human

I hide in a cubicle dawn to dusk
Collateral damage, votes cast in fear
closet doors open whispering my name
Still I resist their safe promise and yet

I hide in a cubicle, dawn to dusk
If I had money I might build walls too
Oh, in my own way I’ve done this, it’s true
But I don’t feel safe from danger that looms

I hide in a cubicle dawn to dusk
Doing my job and paying my taxes
Wondering where they will be on the day
I cease to be safe despite what they say

I hide in a cubicle dawn to dusk
Wondering who I should fear and who, trust
Minding my business, yet knowing I must
Open my heart to be healed by love

I hide in a cubicle dawn to dusk
It’s not the ideal arrangement I know
I’m gonna try harder to open my heart
And let you back in, it’s small, it’s a start.

I hide in a cubicle dawn to dusk.

kat – 14 November 2016

5 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Digital Art & Photos, Poetry, Social Issues, Spirituality