The True Measure of Success

This is dedicated to those involved in risk management and the resolution of conflict.  May they find the wisdom in equality of all parties for the sake of peace.

Everyone does their best,
From their perspective of the world,
No two see the same.

Everyone seeks happiness,
To be resurrected from a sea of troubles,
For pleasure and pain is the name of the game.

Everyone is unique,
For we live a short time then die,
And in between there are many questions of why?
No two questions are interpreted the same.

For we live in a great diversity,
Infinite experiences, cultures, agendas and beliefs,
Merging into a melting pot of contrast and variety,
For lifes outcomes define who we are in perpetuity,
Pattern making is how we are trained in sobriety,
The art of happiness is both the weaver and thread,
Designing new patterns for the common good,
For what looms large ahead must ‘be the change’.

The human world seeks conformity,
Strives for uniformity,
Believing this is stability and order,
As schools flow in the same direction,
For there is safety in numbers,
Security in uniformity,
What if the greatest security was
freedom from fear?

Peace is not a slogan,
Nor is it anti-war or radicalism,
It is to love what is (reality),
And accept what isn’t (imaginings),
It is to love thy enemy as thyself
and know there is no enemy but a belief,
That either divides or unifies,
For one is truth the other misperception,
The wise ask – is it better to be right or happy?

So many are fighting to win,
So many rules & regulations restructuring life,
So many on a treadmills running out of steam,
So many terrified of change as they day dream,
So many pulled in many directions feeling drained,
Whilst children sit silently in front of games learning how to win
at the expense of another,
Rewarded for winning in arenas of no mercy,
Rewarded for survival of the fittest played out in brutality,
Calling winning violent video games – fun.

Few have learned that vulnerability is the strength of humility,
Speaking truth to power is the highest courage,
Problem solving nourishes youthful minds,
The rubrics cube trains to locate the right combination
figuring out the puzzle of inner conflict in the maize,
Finding new ways to bravely meet exciting challenges,
Learning to respect adversaries without violence
is the beginning of real wisdom.

I will wait patiently until my voice is heard,
I will continue my inquiry into peace as my soul song,
I will seek not to manage risk but to debunk fears orchestrating violence in …
thought, word or deed,
I will sit at a round table in equality planting seeds of harmony
without fear, favour or conformity,
I will not judge right or wrong but problem solve the puzzle
to figure out how the bully and target can belong,
How each can be heard, mirrored then resolved,
For peace is not in winning but grinning as the problem solved.

To learn to live equal rights is to be happy,
Embracing diversity without judgement or sin,
Weaves a new world pattern where everybody wins,
Valuing integrity in the process not the outcome,
As fairness was always the true measure of success.

It was Shakespeare who said:

“To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing (questioning untruth)
end them?”

(my brackets)