Say Yes

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In the Irish language there is not a word for ‘yes’.  There is not a word for “no” either.

 

You can only answer in the affirmative – you can say “I will’ or “I won’t.’  You can say ‘I can.’  You can say ‘I am’ or ‘I am not’…

 

Let your yes be yes and your no be no

Let your yes be seen in your doing.

Let your no be not-doing.

If you say yes, but do-not-do, it is a no.

So, forget all your talk.

Tell me by what you do.

                     Pádraig Ó Tauma

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What does it look like to live

Yes

Yes to God, to life, to love

 

I can say ‘yes’ all I want

And it can simply be noise

A clanging of falsehoods

 

What does ‘yes’ look  like

It looks like patience and humility

It looks like respect

And forgiveness

It looks like joy

 

It does not look like

Envy, boasting, or anger

It is not focused on the self

It does not look like lies

 

It looks like welcoming the stranger

Feeding the hungry

Clothing the naked

 

It looks like fighting for justice

 

I say ‘yes’ when I look on another with compassion

I say ‘yes' when I stand and speak out

Against hate and injustice

I say ‘yes’ when I hold my tongue (sometimes)

And ‘yes’ when I refuse to spew hate

 

May my yes be seen in my doing.

May my no be not-doing

Those things that are not love

 

Its complicated

So complicated

 

And frightening too

How easy it is to stumble over ‘no’ on the way to ‘yes’

 

But there is no other way

This

This is the way, the truth, the life