And The People Stayed Home

And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently.

And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal.

And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.

Kitty O’Meara (unknown author?).

This poem has been circulating on social media the last few days and I got it in my feed both in English and Spanish. The illustration is from a postcard I sent to Jonathan 2006 when I was studying in Gothenburg. I think the poem and the picture so well illustrates how we, who are lucky enough to have a warm, comfortable house, enough food and books to read, can take this opportunity we are given and do the things we never got the time to do and maybe at the same time heal (and help the planet heal). Strangely enough this takes some effort, at least from me.

Evenings at Home, Deborah DeWit Marchant 2002