Anything that costs you your peace is Exorbitant.

By Nickie Karitas

At the mention of the word ‘Covid19’ today, fear sends cold ripples of defeat down everyone’s spine. The word has successfully sent all of us into hiding places and put all social classes at the hope of mercy from above.

New York, the city that never sleeps, Paris, the center of romance, and Rome, the ‘eternal city’ all live in melancholy. Disney has run out of magic, the Great 8 ‘G8’ nations are speechless, Mecca is empty and the world at large, from Kings and Queens to you and I seem to have picked up the silence of a grave waiting for tomorrow and then tomorrow.

Notably, everything we smile at seems to have vanished but there is one thing that belongs to us, one thing that no pandemic can take away- the choice to sink in frustration or glow within amidst the situation. The life of inner peace, being harmonious and without stress is the easiest type of existence. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped.

Undoubtedly, achieving peace is a continuous journey many of us are on. Though it might seem out of reach, putting our problems and struggles into perspective helps us get closer to reaching tranquility and whether it is the peace of mind or peace on earth you are after, it all begins with making an effort to be more calm and present. Improvement begins with ‘’I’’.

John 14: 27’s Jesus’ declaration of peace was for all seasons with no exceptions of storms like pandemics but for everyone to live to be a witness of this inner peace. To experience peace does not mean that your life is blissful amidst a global menace but it means that you are capable of tapping into a blissful state of mind amidst the social distancing, confirmed cases, masks, sanitizers and a lockdown that has put many lives in tatters.

After all, you must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star. Don’t call me a genius if I say there is no lockdown for me, I am not alone. Taking a stroll down Kasokoso-Kiganda, Namuwongo and some other slums, life is normal for them.

As usual, people move about talking and laughing. While the rich are complaining about denial of private means, these people are eating the little they have always had, sailing through their prior struggles, sleeping under the same moon, the same stars and the very same sky like they have nothing to lose. And what difference do they have with the high classes now that only ambulances move freely and now that everyone will live to tell generations that a car is not a sign of wealth and walking does not mean poverty?

A special applause to these never recognized people who have taken beyond the political economy and chosen peace over all the chaos and frustration. May it ring in every heart that peace comes from within, never from ‘all the wealth of the world.’
And I felt very still, the way the eye of a tornado must feel moving dully along in the middle of the surrounding hullabaloo as I dutifully interacted with the middle class, sharing thoughts and ideas over the current situation that has shaken the whole world. Associating with these classes of people has given me a platform of critique and a wide observation that the only thing which makes it possible to regard this world we live in without disgust is finding peace in the beauty of which we now and then create out of chaos.

The pictures we paint, the music we compose, the people we love, the laughter we let out, the places we go to, the books we read and write and the lives we choose to lead. Of all these, the richest is the beauty of a peaceful mind, that is the perfect work of poetry. There is always calm in the midst of chaos, love in the midst of hate and hope in the midst of despair, you may not find them immediately but have faith that there is a peace giver beyond those blue skies and hold tightly to your faith.

Shine your soul with the same egoless humility as the rainbow and no matter where you go in this world or the next, peace will find you. Perhaps there are those who are able to go about their lives unfettered by such concerns but to someone, somewhere out there, your fate is to face the world like an orphan chasing through the shadows of vanished parents.

There is nothing for it but to try and see through our missions to the end, for until we do so, we will be permitted to peace. Only then can we have that peace of mind that will allow us to overcome the humps that life hands us and allow every challenge to teach us how to survive, to live for now and to have the courage to confront each day. Read this again