An intelligent man once claimed that
for every action, there is an equal reaction.
Yet when turmoil temporarily saturates our capacity for Peace,
Our definition of Peace
morphs
into something distant, abstract, impossible.
Our minds obsess over an illusion
of an everlasting peace sent by supernatural means.
Our hearts wait for something
so much bigger than ourselves – stronger, wiser, deeper than ourselves.

And maybe that’s the problem.

Maybe Peace doesn’t mean an eternal
Perfection,
But perhaps Peace is the perfect balance
of worldly Imperfections. 

Perhaps Peace is found
Not in absolute stillness and the illusion it creates,
But in the ying and yang and tug-of-war found in every day.
Maybe Peace is not
A universal vaccine to cure all future ills,
Or a globally unspoken truce to end all future wars.
An endless surplus of rice in every future home,
Or a guarantee of happiness wherever each child may go.
But perhaps Peace is found when
A fresh first kiss soothes the loss of lovers past,
A single compliment outweighs self-hate of body mass.
A solider coming home ends his mother’s internal war,
A disastrous oil spill renews appreciation for the shore.
When an insomniac is first to witness waking of the sun,
When a sympathetic smile sings the song that can’t be sung.

Maybe Peace is not simply abundance of the good,
But an abundance
of actions and counter-actions that give meaning to life.
Maybe Peace is not a universal solution to universal strife,
But an intimate goal and a personal perspective
to seek and yearn,
pursue and learn…
that Peace is balance.
that Peace is in the miniscule and in the day-to-day.
that when we look for Peace in the forgotten details of our lives
Peace is yours.
and Peace is mine.