"We have arrived. What happens now is happening to us."
Anna Seghers, born Anna (Netty) Reiling (1900-1983)
A German Jewish writer who escaped Nazi Germany wrote these words in 1939, eighty-one years ago. In her historical novel The Seventh Cross she had reached the concentration camp, which she avoided but where other members of her family would perish. In 1939 she could not know the outcome. But she felt a moment of recognition, that moment when we see ourselves as historical subjects. When from an imaginary future platform we look back to see the importance of our present lives.
For weeks and months now this has been us. The coronavirus has arrived. So has the social reckoning about race. What the virus is doing is being done to us. Whether racism can be eradicated will be decided by us. Wherever we live, on whatever continent in whatever country or state, what happens now is on our watch. We are the ones making history, everyone alive today.
Strange but I don't see these words as negative. I like it that whatever happens, happens to us all. Most of us understand that we're in the present together and however the future unspools we'll be there together too. ("No Man Is an Island," 5/29/20)
I've touted www.Mindful.org before. Today in my in-box were three questions:
- How can I love myself today?
- How can I love others today?
- How can I love the world today?
But life is different now. Everyday I'm loving the world, nurturing my own green spaces, keeping the butterfly bushes healthy, feeding the birds, contributing to the right causes. Wearing face coverings and wishing everyone were. Thinking about safety and friendships and vocations in new ways. You are too, aren't you? We are doing this.
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