I recently listened to a video of Michael Sheen reading WH Auden's poem "September 1, 1939," and several lines of it jumped out at me. Here we are, poised on the edge of a similar war, and his words ring as true now as they did then: "We must love one another or die."
It can be easy, as we listen to the news, to become despondent and anxious, to feel helpless in the face of so many catastrophes. I find lately I'm watching too many Youtube videos on doomsday prepping, and so of course that is all my feed presents to me now. I purposely searched for some cheerful content yesterday to reintroduce some lightness to the line-up Youtube offers me. As Auden says, "habit-forming pain" can feed itself and soon you can't get out from under it. Preparing is one thing; wallowing is another.
Amidst all that is going on, we must remain positive, not in a naive or blind way, but purposefully, to intentionally keep the darkness in the world in balance. It's important work.
I've written lately about how difficult I'm finding it to write "fluff" during these heavy times, but I have to remind myself that sometimes you need the fantasy in order to survive the reality. You need the breath of cool air before diving back into the inferno.
Auden ends his poem thusly: "May I...Beleaguered by the same Negation and despair, Show an affirming flame." Which makes me want to shout for the first time in my life, "Burn, baby, burn!"
No comments:
Post a Comment