As fashion ebbs and flows, so too the cycles of nature and of life. In the past twelve months the challenges we faced and the solutions we found were unique for our lifetimes. However they are not unique. Here is a poem written in 1869, reprinted during the 1919 Spanish flu and as relevant today as it was then.
And people stayed at home
and read books
and listened
and they rested
and did exercises
and made art and played
and learned new ways
and stopped and listened
more deeply
someone meditated, someone prayed
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,
the earth also began to heal
and when the danger ended and
People found themselves
they grieved for the dead
and made new choices
and dreamed of new visions
and created new ways of living
and completely healed the earth
just as they were healed.
We've seen the incredible improvement in air quality over the summer and how quickly nature has rebounded. This week I invite you to reflect on your journey thus far and looking forward consider how you could make the world better for you and me. (Michael Jackson Heal this world)
We are here to heal not harm
we are here to love, not hate.
we are here to create not destroy. AD WIlliams