Tranquil Resources

Tag: peace

  • Keep Your Eyes On The Road

    Moving in between stories, 
    Trying to make one of our own.
    The headlines scream “Protest”
    While Monks Walk For Peace “Alone”.

    It’s hard to navigate the twists and turns
    Trying to stay centered on your own road.
    It’s hard to take in the day’s beauty
    While clutching on to the emotions you hold.

    Our life, my life 
    made up of so few precious days,
    I don’t want to be selfish now,
    But here’s what I’ve got to say.

    I’ll Walk For Peace 
    With every breath I take
    Every photo I share,
    Every poem I create.

    I’ll protest government overreach
    Though my activism legs are old and slow.
    So I protest by shining my little flicker of light
    Down this crazy, unrelenting, twisted road.

    We are a country 
    built from toil and mistakes.
    Our forefathers, far from perfect.
    So many lives have been lost along the way.

    But the message was always crystal clear:
    At least it was to me
    All of us are created equal. Remember?
    This is supposed to be the land of the free.

    Now, this poem may feel like a
    Twisting, turning mountain road 
    With blind corners to navigate.
    But know that I’m searching for beauty as I go.

    So my protest sign will read like a prayer:

    Keep your eyes focused on Peace.
    Steady as she goes.
    Because while you’re the one driving,
    You’re responsible for that piece of road.

  • Choosing Peace Instead of Power

    There are days when the desire for peace feels almost naive.
    When the demands of our leaders sound louder, sharper,
    more determined to prove something
    through domination rather than understanding.

    Battles are waged
    — in words,
    in policies,
    in posture —
    and I find myself asking
    the same question again and again:

    For what purpose?

    Is it to show strength?
    To claim ground?
    To stand above rather than among?

    I don’t want to be part of that kind of power.

    I want to live among others,
    not on top of them.
    I want to breathe shared air,
    not take more than my share.
    I want a life that makes room
    — for difference,
    for dignity,
    for voices that don’t sound like my own.

    And yet, choosing peace
    when our leaders glorify conquest
    can feel like swimming against a current.
    It can feel isolating.
    It can feel misunderstood.

    There is pressure to harden,
    to pick sides loudly,
    to respond with the same force that unsettles us.

    But peace is not passive.
    It is deliberate.

    It takes strength to refuse domination.
    It takes courage to remain open
    when closing off would feel safer.
    It takes discipline to stay rooted in compassion
    when anger offers a faster release.

    Peace begins locally.
    I remind myself of this in the way I speak.
    It is also in the way I listen.
    I resist the urge to reduce others to obstacles or enemies.

    I cannot control the battles
    being fought beyond me.
    However, I can decide
    what kind of presence I bring into the world.

    So I choose to breathe.
    I choose to soften rather than strike.
    I choose to stand for dignity
    without standing on someone else.

    This is not weakness.
    It is alignment.

    And on days
    when the contradiction feels unbearable —
    when peace feels
    out of step with the world —
    I return to this truth:

    *To fight for the rights of others,
    * To stay humble,
    * To care deeply


    My contribution must be toward
    building bridges,
    lifting people up,
    sharing space rather than conquering it.

    I do not want to live in this world alone.

    Let’s be brave.
    Let’s be humane.
    We don’t need to shout,
    but we do need to stand up.