Food For Thought

While our global challenges are unique in so many ways, it is interesting to note what we have in common with others who have struggled with their own major challenges. In the quiet moments of your life a gentle read of the following poem might provide some helpful food for thought.

Poem by Kathleen O Meara, an Irish/ French poet and author, composed after the famine in Ireland in 1869.

“And the People Stayed Home”

“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
someone 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.”