Let there be peace on . . .
(what planet is this again?)
Oh yes, that's right . . . Earth.
I've been a peacemaker all my life, as I noted in my first two Steemit posts, and have written about several times since.
In my introductory post, I spoke a little bit about who I am, what I'm about, our mini farm and what we are trying to do here. A few kind souls stopped by to give me an encouraging word, which was more appreciated than they will ever know.
On my following post, I went more deeply into why giving and kindness mean so much to me, how my parents led by example, and some of the projects and organizations I've been fortunate enough to work with over the years. Yet despite working long and hard on the post, in the end, I had one upvote and no engagement.
And the single upvote was from my husband.
I am hardly alone in this sort of experience.
Unfortunately, it has driven a lot of great writers and people away from the platform, as it is truly disheartening to see plagiarized photo after plagiarized photo, nearly always uncredited, and often not even bothering to tell what the photo depicts, making hundreds of dollars for no effort, while good and even truly great content goes unrewarded.
But in my case, I began engaging with some of the communities on Steemit, and started to really see the potential. Poets United was the first community to catch my eye, as I've been a published poet since 1999, in print and online, and I knew at the very least that I was likely to find at least a few people who spoke a common language.
And through them, I started seeing more and more Alliance members, and engaging with them, only to find that in several cases I had found kindred souls.
It is the communities which have brought so many of us together, finding commonalities with people from all corners of the globe, sharing knowledge and experiences, and having a blast in the meantime.
And, as a part of the mix, more and more Steemians began doing their own creatively peaceful and loving things, to counter all the negativity coming from what passes for government and the news these days. From 
And as discouraging as it is to hear those who should know better in Washington spouting ideas so patently ridiculous that any smart 8-year-old could poke holes clear through them, it is wonderfully encouraging to find not only like-minded people, but people willing to act on their beliefs, creating positive change in their own lives and communities, and by extension in the world at large.
I am both proud and humbled to be a part of it all.
I am grateful for the Alliance, home to so many of my very favorite Steemiams, for this fabulous and diverse and brilliant and talented and entirely goofy group of people, who regularly exhibit strength of character, exceptional intelligence, clear-eyed insight, huge hearts and overwhelming kindness. I thank you all.
I am doubly grateful for 
Making my own corner of the world a better place has been my goal for as long as I can remember, and for me that has always meant creating peace, tolerance, love, forgiveness, giving people the benefit of the doubt, and simply being kind.
And this is exactly the kind of thinking I've found among my fellow members of the Alliance, loving people who give of themselves freely, who are always ready to give an encouraging comment when it is most needed, and, bonus!, are simply fun to hang out with, in Discord and in person.
So I leave you with the photo above, an image to me of ultimate peace, as this is my dad's incense burner from when he first became a Buddhist when I was twelve.
I am burning my own favorite incense, natural Southwestern piñon, a treasured gift from my wonderful husband Marek. It's smell brings forth fond memories of camping trips with my grandparents in the Rocky Mountains every summer, and how somehow, despite beautiful sunny days, it usually managed to rain every night. ;-)
Peace out, my loves, one and all!
I am dedicating this post to #thealliance, and to further this fabulous family, half the liquid proceeds earned from my post will be transferred into its account.
The photos above were taken by me earlier tonight with my Samsung Note 8 smartphone.
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art and flair courtesy of @PegasusPhysics
