Back from blissful Bali and ready to rock and roll…NOT. Okay first of all, Bali was total chaos, Chaos I tell you. The traffic and mad scooter driving in Kuta put those crazy Italians in Rome to shame. I’m talking, in between the cars and buses, up on the sidewalks, in the wrong direction. 2 on a scooter, 3,4,5 on a scooter, dogs and cats, food carts and surfboards on a scooter. You name, on the scooter. Then there were the vendors; everywhere. On the sidewalks, in the alleys, on the side of the road, walking through traffic, on the beach. Everyone had something to sell.

But you know the interesting thing? The people, I mean the Balinese people, were so …..beautiful.so grounded and kind. In the middle of all that chaos they made their offerings. They said their prayers. They visited their temples. They smiled and laughed and happily pointed out directions. I wondered how amidst all the action they could be at such peace. Every day, two or three times day each one of them wouldwalk over to an alter placed anywhere on the street, everywhere on the street, and laid upon it their offering of leaves, flowers, incense and holy water. Everyday. And they would have several offerings. So that once the alter was covered, they would leave them in various places like on your car, on your scooter or on the sidewalk.

I wondered what they prayed for: good rice crops? Good weather? Better health, financial freedom, my salvation? What brought these people such peace? We made friends with a beautiful young girl, 16 years of age who was continuing her schooling in the hotel we were staying at, kind of like trade experience. Her name was Merry. We learned that she was also a carver of wood and that her specialty was Buddha. She invited us to her small village to meet her family. There she took us on a tour of her family, village and city temples. She showed me the stream from which the holy water flows. “It’s holy because it very faithfully continues to flow from the Earth” she explained.

It had nothing to do with being blessed by any other human being. She walked us to the GOD place where they kneel and pray. And she explained that twice a year they have a very big celebration that lasts for days. Curious about their perpetual state of happy, and wanting to achieve that state myself I asked, “Merry, what do you pray for?” she responded simply, “the world.” “Your world? Your village? Your people?” I asked. “Oh no. We pray for the whole world.” She emphasized. “For all those days???” I exclaimed. “Yes. We pray for the whole world. Everyday. That’s all.”

How profound. How simply profound. They don’t pray for financial freedom. They don’t pray for health. They don’t pray for housing or salvation or forgiveness. They pray for the whole world. Just knowing that I had an entire island of kind people praying for me as a part of a greater whole gave me a sense of calm. It reminded me that I really am but a thread in the fabric of life. And it brought me a very deep sense of peace.

Written By: Nia Peeples