A week ago a friend and I drove out to see the Monks passing through North Carolina on their peace walk. We brought along high spirits with fruit and flower offerings for them. We didn’t have many details but knew their lunch spot and planned to connect there. We found easy parking and as we made our way to the highway a woman walking back to her car stopped to speak with us. She was returning from witnessing the monks walk in and asked if she could take my picture with the beautiful flowers. I posed smiling with roses lifted while she angled her phone. She asked if I was Buddhist. I stood there holding the roses and a dragon fruit next to my friend with her bag full of oranges, apples, and bananas while I thought for a moment how to respond to her:
“I’m a Loveist.
We are here to be part of peace and love in action.”
She shared that she is a Buddhist and didn’t know there would be so many non Buddhists present but was happy to see people bridging across religions for peace. She gave us some directional guidance and we set back towards the highway to their lunching spot.
While it turned out that they were delayed from the schedule we planned around and we didn’t end up seeing the monks exit that day. We did stand outside their resting spot for two hours holding space for peace with others doing the same. We stood in the expectation of spiritual offering, energetic support, and allegiance to peace. It was a beautiful reminder to breathe deep, hope for the best, and practice contentment with what presents.
After all, what would Love do?
Presence and Positivity 