Tag Archives: hope

September 25, 2016

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

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 ❤️

8 Comments | tags: hope, peace, ReVerse, Shi Sai, week in Reverse | posted in Essays, Life Lessons, Random Thoughts and Musings, Social Issues, Spirituality, Week in Review

September 23, 2016

Plutocracy – Friday’s Word of the Day Haiku

By Kat Myrman

plutocracy

Happy Friday! I am beginning to think that Dictionary.com has a thing for posting politically charged words on Fridays. This week’s word is Plutocracy. Originating from the Greek, plutocracy is one of those combination words with ploûtos meaning “wealth” and krátos meaning “rule, strength, might”. The English started using this word in the mid-1600’s.

I don’t know about you, but I am weary of politics. I console myself into thinking it will finally be over in a matter of months. But I am only fooling myself. It won’t be over. Regardless of who wins our U.S. election, there will be hell to pay to the losers who will most certainly protest, revolt, dig their heals in, obstruct progress, or worse. I don’t even want to think about it.

Me? Once I cast my vote this November, I plan on crawling under a rock somewhere, or finding a secluded neutral island where I can hide away until the after-blast settles.

And I will wonder as I always do, if my vote really mattered. “Of course it does,” the talking heads tell us. But the talking heads are owned by the very rich who pay for the campaigns of the candidates who they count on to pass laws that afford them eminent domain, special favors and deregulation. Which is not a good thing for us rock dwellers. I kinda like that we have pristine national forests. I am especially grateful knowing that the fruit in my salad has been regulated to rule out e-coli and the like, and that the products that I purchase are held to standards that make them safe to use. But hey, that’s just me. So whether it matters or not, I vote. It’s the principle of the thing.

Some people say we are already a plutocracy, but I hold onto the hope that there are still enough of us average work-a-day paycheck to paycheck folks to tip the scales. Yes, I still hope.

And so we come to another political word of the day from our friends at dictionary.com. Here is my haiku…it’s more of a lesson learned…a word to the wise, that sort of thing. and I am passing it on…cause “trickling down” never did and still doesn’t work.

Plutocracy

Plutocrats will say,
“Give us more, we’ll share with you.”
Plutocrats don’t share.

kat ~ 23 September 2016

5 Comments | tags: hope, plutocracy, Poetry, word of the day | posted in Haiku, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Word of the Day Haiku

September 10, 2016

You Know Me

By Kat Myrman

It’s Saturday night in my part of the world. For some of you it’s already Sunday. Here we all are on the cusp of our collective yesterdays and tomorrows, but more importantly, we’re all in the now, right this moment, it’s now.

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired. In my country we’re suffering through the final spin cycle of what has been an insane presidential campaign. Now I expect this is when some of you will start bristling, because I’ve made my choice quite clear. But I don’t want to talk about that tonight. No more he said she said wackiness. No more dredging up taken out of context or “gotcha” fodder to prove who’s right and who’s wrong. We’re all messed up right now. It’s true. And we’ve forgotten who we are and why we’re here.

If you’re a faithful soul then you know I’m right. And it doesn’t matter what religion you claim as your own. Even if you don’t have a particular way or truth you know it too. We’re all a bit lost aren’t we? And we’re all hurting. And we all feel pretty alone right now. Am I right?

It feels good and affirming to gravitate toward the shiny objects and loud voices that seem to say what we’re thinking. But shiny objects are an illusion and loud voices? Well, I’m afraid a lot of the time they’re loud because they like to hear themselves talk. There is a voice we’re forgetting in the cacophony of all of this noise. You know what it is. It’s that tiny voice that rumbles up from your belly. The one that whispers in our ears when we’re faced with a big decision.

I know you. You’re my friends and family, my neighbor’s and co-workers. You’re the person in the car next to me, or even the one in the car in front of me that’s driving too slow…the one that made me clench my steering wheel and my teeth wishing you would just put your phone away and drive, already…or worse! We bring out the best and worst in each other. And in those worst moments, that’s when we forget. Yes, I know you and you know me.

Tonight I am thinking about that. About you. And I’m trying to remember who I am and why I’m here. I don’t have all the answers. I don’t know what tomorrow will bring. And I’m not always right, but I’m also not always wrong…and neither are you.

The thing is, I need you. And you need me too. No matter what happens, I do know one thing. There is nothing that we can’t fix together, if things get messed up.

But hey, it’s not all bad either. We’re flawed, but most of us want to be good, to do the right thing. And there is a lot of goodness in the world too. I hope you can see the goodness around you. I know I’m going to try harder to notice.

We’ll get through this. We will. I know you. And you know me. Remember that and we’ll all be okay.

Peace y’all. I really mean it.

kat – 10 September 2016

15 Comments | tags: hope, Noise, peace | posted in Random Thoughts and Musings

September 4, 2016

Shi Sai Sunday’s Week in ReVerse ~ 4 September 2016

By Kat Myrman

Happy Weekend! For many of us in the U.S. It is a holiday weekend, Monday being Labor Day. For me it also meant having Friday off as well. It was an opportunity to catch up with family.

I am blessed to have a big family. Of course it is my own doing in part, having raised four daughters. Through them I have gained sons, grand children and grand pups. It is amazing how one person can sprout off in so many directions…from one to two, then four, then seven or eight, then sixteen and counting in a matter of a generation or two. I wonder as I get older if fate will allow me to see another generation blossom, launching me into “great” status. Would that be grand!

We have so little time that flashes by in a wink! We busy ourselves in passing with such petty concerns…He said, she said’s, I’m right, you’re wrongs’s, oh no you didn’t’s, can’t believe you just’s, I’m over it’s, talk to the hand’s or don’t talk to me at all’s. Our egos would like nothing better than to have us all to ourselves. There is a hefty price to pay for self-righteousness.

I don’t believe I have seen things quite as divided and contentious in my lifetime as it is right now. There are no fine lines, just walls…and we’ve become quite comfortable with crossing them.

In the end we all need to answer just one question. How we answer it makes all the difference.

Is being right and winning the most important thing?

If you can manage a “no” then it’s not too late…there is hope.

Be gentle with yourself and with those who share air space with you. Love while you can. Life is short and only as sweet as you make it.

Shi Sai Sunday’s Week in ReVerse ~ 4 September 2016

we each hold a sacred trust
to become strong, resilient
love is consuming
with power to smooth rough stone
‘Twas a simpler time
let’s hope we can bridge the divide
I used to wish upon the brightest star
several minutes of polite conversation,
with open hearts
and minds
that quietly listen

~kat

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The Shi Sai, (formerly known as a ReVerse) is a new form I came up with during Poetry Month in April 2016. I’ve actually been writing shu sai for years but was inspired to give it a prooer name. It is a poem created by taking one line of verse from several poems of an author’s own collection. The shi sai is done as a review of a series or collection of poems and therefore, each line should flow in chronological order of the dates the poems were written (from oldest to new). The lines chosen should be the author’s favorite from each poem. This form works best if the author resists the temptation to read the full new poem before all the verses have been added. (It helps one to resist the impulse to change a line to make it “fit”.

2 Comments | tags: ego, hope, Shi Sai, Time, week in Reverse | posted in Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Shi Sai, Week in Review