SPRING–THE TIME TO BE AWAKE
art by Jessica Boehman
Today, I wish you the flower of peace, that grows with you through the next days and months. I wish you love, friendship and family. Today, I am borrowing from another writer who captured where we are and how we are living. Her name is Kitty O’Meara, and her words have gone viral. So has the art that tops this page, art by Jessica Boehman.
“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 Art by Jessica Boehman P.S. Kitty told the Oprah Magazine, “I was anxious for the past few months. I knew this was coming and I couldn’t be of service.” For years Kitty O’Meara worked in palliative care, so she is especially concerned for friends who still work in the healthcare profession and daily are on the frontlines, battling the virus.
MY MESSAGE
As a mother of adult children, a grandmother of three precious humans, I feel responsible for this world we are living in. It has made me incautious sometimes, as I get on social media and write how I feel. And my feelings are raw, angry and yet often filled with hope. We will get past this. We will awaken to a better way. We have to. Ours is a country of 50 states that must remember what the word democracy means: rule of the people. Each of us has a voice, and each of us must use that voice.
I also use my voice in smaller ways, by thanking the woman in the mask who checks out my groceries, the mailman who delivers our mail, any person who comes to my front door with a package. And I wave to those who like me and my husband are out walking, but keeping our distance. This is a crazy time, but still a time to remember small kindnesses.
When the sheltering in place is over and business begin again, maybe we will be more tender and understanding toward one another. Maybe we will love our earth more and care for her. Because even though it is cloudy as I write this, I believe that THE EARTH IS OUR MOTHER AND IN SPRING SHE IS REBORN, and that maybe after all of this, something will be reborn in each of us. Until then…
P. S. Thanks to Mary Jo Shane who sent me this gift of art and words.
