40K for 40 days: Day 16 - What Peace is Not

Day 16 of the "40K for 40 Days" blog series during our Martin Luther King 40 days of Peace Campaign on the Charter's blog and through social media. 

I shed a tear or two reading this one... Feel it with me... Peace is hard work, my friends... Peace is going against the grain. It's trying and trying and doing and doing... a never-ending journey like compassion, a wish waiting to become reality. Manifestation requires work in order to be manifested... so it's peace. Thank you, Shane.

Read Day 1 here to learn the story behind this series!

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With love,

- Felipe 

Day 16 Inner & Outer Peace, +40k for 40 Days

What Peace is not.

It's not avoiding challenges or confrontation or staying in our comfort zones

It's not simply an absence of direct, visible violence like being bombed by inhumane drones.

It's not just a peace prize

It's not something you wake up to on your birthday as a surprise.

It's not immediate gratification or just a short-term aspiration.

It's not easy to attain, maintain or sustain

It's not just a dream but a right we can all gain.

It's not fair that so many don't know how it feels.

It's not fake, false, or fabricated like so many on their social media reels.

It's not given to us, by others' pity or concerns, but it's taken, lived, and fought for and something someone learns.

It can't just be grabbed from us like our wallet or our phone, it's ours and our communities, together or alone.

It's never perfect, progress is needed, watered daily like oaks being seeded.

It's not caught, bought, or found, for the dollar or the pound but more grown and sown and tended to our oak deep underground.

It's not for free and not a patent, many tried but that's simply pretending.

It's not possible to predict just how peace is going to go when the leaders in the suits don't really want to know.

So...

On my 15th day of reflecting on my inner and outer peace, I feel I'm getting somewhere, K by K and piece by piece.

I think I'm gaining insight into what I want to do, starting by focusing on the inner and then sharing with my crew.
Working on the micro, with my neighbor, with my yard, starting to enjoy this craic (Irish for fun) , it doesn't warrant being so hard.

-Shane O'Connor