Spartacus Greets the New Year – Photo: L. Weikel
Timelessness
Maybe it was the way the sunshine of the morning was almost imperceptibly overtaken by a gray comforter of overcast. The sleet that started prickling us as we rounded the final turn of our walk hastened our gait. The warmth of our fireplace beckoned. A sense of timelessness set in as daylight dimmed so dramatically that we had to check the time. Had we lost a few hours somewhere?
Was it the weather? Was it the arrival of the first day of the year on a Friday – giving us a full weekend to get used to the fact that we’re no longer under the spell of 2020?
Was it the haunting memory of last night’s images of a nearly empty Times Square?
Out of Sight
If you are lucky enough not to be part of the front line troops in our most recent war, it was almost possible to imagine life unfolding in any configuration you might want to fantasize today. The cranky closeness of the clouds was the perfect screen upon which you could project any fantasy of reality you might want to conjure.
That’s such a strange facet of our reality right now. We have the world at our fingertips. But we also have the ability to cut ourselves off from the vast majority of it. For instance, living out in the country as I do, it’s a fact that if I choose not to look at my phone or computer or turn on my television, I can remain in total ignorance of the chaotic lives hundreds of thousands of people are living (and thousands are losing) every single day as a result of this pandemic.
It feels disrespectful and cold-hearted to realize that ‘out of sight, out of mind’ is both so easily employed and radically true in our country. Especially when you hear people saying that Covid-19 is a ‘hoax’ simply because they don’t know anyone who’s sick or died from it. Yet.
I’ve written before about my sense that it’s part of my personal responsibility as a member of society to maintain an awareness of what’s unfolding in our lives politically and otherwise. I’ve also written that it’s essential to maintain a healthy balance. We can become so consumed by anything (whether we judge that thing to be ‘good’ or ‘bad’) that it can do us harm by making us oblivious to the rest of our lives.
Cocoon
Today, though, with the weird color of the daylight and the remarkable quiet when we took our walk, it was stunningly easy to imagine the world to be much different than I know in my heart it is.
Perhaps there is some merit to total withdrawal every now and then. If we project onto our personal screens of overcast clouds a vision of a world where people honestly care as much about their fellow Earthlings as they do about themselves, maybe it will matter.
I can say one thing for sure. I could use another couple days of timelessness and projection of a better world. I’m glad we still have the weekend ahead of us.
Be well. Take care of yourselves. Spread love and kindness, not virus.
(T-329)