Happy Sunday to you! Today’s Shi Sai hit me between the eyes the moment I read it back to myself. Not literally of course…words don’t jump off pages or computer screens smacking us literally, right? Except, I am feeling smacked just the same.

I followed the rules this morning when lifting the verses, choosing a favorite line from each post from the previous week, listing them sequentially in the order written. My rules. But sometimes I don’t like a particular line once it’s merged with the others. I am tempted to revise it to make it “feel better”, to make it fit. But I don’t, and I didn’t today, even though I absolutely hated the last line:

there can be no peace

This is not what I believe! It’s not what I hope for at all. Today’s Shi Sai does not work at all as so many of them do, I thought. But I was wrong.

I read each line again, knowing that each one would lead me back to that parting unsettling line. It just didn’t feel right, but I decided to surrender to the process. This time as I read the verse back to myself I reflected on where I was and what I was doing the previous week.

The truth is, these lines are just the tip of the iceberg. The truth is, I spent the week, as I do most, caring deeply and being involved in trying to make the world a better place. It’s not immediately evident in these lines (that iceberg thing) but I was particularly “vocal” in my activism (not here necessarily, more so in other social media forums) and the distress I feel over the hate, violence and ignorance that I perceive in our world.

I struggled with this. I struggled because I started to think my words didn’t matter. That maybe I should just stop speaking my mind and do what is expected: silently comply, don’t rock the boat, don’t point out the truth, because in doing so you’re disrespecting someone else’s right to their own version (aka opinion) of it, because nobody really cares what you have to say anyway…you’re just wasting your words and your breath…just post selfies and thumbs up, smiley faces and throw in a few inspiring memes for good measure. If you really get stuck, a cute cat video will bring you back to…reality?!! Smack! Right between the eyes!

I finally scanned this week’s Shi Sai one more time, but I couldn’t wait to get to that last line. “There can be no peace.”

Of course there can’t! As long as there is injustice, pain and suffering in the world, there can be no peace for those of us willing to call it what it is; willing to care enough to want to do something about it. There can be no peace for those of us who seek and see the truth. It’s important for us to say, “the emperor has no clothes” or “this is wrong” or “that is a lie” if those things are true because some of us are asleep and some of us sadly don’t care, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t.

The final line in this week’s Shi Sai is not about shattering or denying my hope for peace. It is a personal charge and an answer to the question I’ve been asking myself all week. “Does it matter?”

The answer is, of course, a resounding “Yes! It matters!” We need positive change in our world and I am more encouraged now than ever to keep fighting that good fight because “there can be no peace” in my own heart, conscience and soul until I’ve done everything I can to make things better.

I give you then this week’s perfect Shi Sai. Yes, it’s perfect. Be sure to read it all the way to the end. 😉

Shi Sai Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 25 September 2016

be off out, ’tis extra nightfall, follow th’ stars ‘n find th’ gold
to brighten the earth
clouds are just vapor
of love’s undoing
some frogs are just toads
we are so much more alike in our hopes for peace than we are different
as thunder shook the house, neither of them moved, sitting there silently in the dark
of course I knew that there’d be pain
so anyhow, I jest been sitting here waitin’
but only by pure,
yes, I still hope…
there can be no peace.

~kat ❤️