And people stayed home
and read books and listened
and rested and exercised
and made art and played
and learned new ways of being
 
and stopped
and listened deeper
someone meditated
someone prayed
someone danced
some met their shadow
and people began to think differently
and people healed
 
and in the absence of people who lived in ignorant ways,
dangerous, meaningless and heartless,
even the earth began to heal
and when the danger ended
and people found each other
grieved for the dead people
 
and they made new choices
and dreamed of new visions
and created new ways of life
and healed the earth completely
just as they were healed themselves
 
 
 
 
                                [ “and people stayed  home “ Kathleen O’Meara’s poem written in 
                                   1869 after the famine in Ireland ]