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.

— by Kitty O’Meara (Irish-American poet in Wisconsin)