Mary’s Minute
“Adversity
introduces a man to himself.”
~ Albert Einstein
This has been a
tough week. People in our country and
world are very sick, the stock market is plunging, and we all have feeling of
uncertainty and even fear! I feel like
in my many years in education I have been through some challenging times, but this
situation is certainly at the top of the list.
Obviously, I
wish we were not dealing with all of this, but I also have to see the positive
in the situation. During tough times we
see who people really are, and we see for ourselves what we are capable of
doing.
Sometimes we
forget ourselves what we are able to accomplish, but in adverse situations when
we are forced to spring into action, it is more evident.
We also can see
the good in others. I am thankful for
how the Sheridan community has come together to do what is best for kids when
we have been forced to close schools.
Our teachers have worked to provide quality learning, and our cafeteria
staff has found a way to provide lunches for students.
Indeed, tough
times can bring out the best in people.
Stay safe and well!
Mary
Sent to me by a psychologist friend.
ReplyDeleteSubject: Reflection of the psychologist Morelli
“I believe that the cosmos has its way of balancing things and its laws when they are turned upside down.
The moment we are experiencing, full of anomalies and paradoxes, makes you think ...
At a time when the climate change caused by environmental disasters has reached worrying levels, China in the first place and many countries to follow, are forced to blockade; the economy collapses, but pollution drops considerably. The air improves; you use the mask, but you breathe ...
In a historical moment in which certain discriminatory ideologies and policies, with strong references to a petty past, are reactivating all over the world, a virus arrives that makes us experience that, in a moment, we can become the discriminated, the segregated, those stuck at the border, those who carry disease. Even if we are not to blame. Even if we are white, western and we travel in business class.
In a society based on productivity and consumption, in which we all run 14 hours a day, we don't know exactly what, without Saturdays or Sundays, without more reds than the calendar, at any moment, the stop comes.
Stop at home, days and days. To deal with a time of which we have lost value, if it is not measurable in compensation, in money.
Do we still know what to do with it?
In a phase in which the growth of their children is, necessarily, often delegated to other figures and institutions, the virus closes the schools and forces them to find alternative solutions, to put moms and dads together with their children. It forces us to rebuild family.
In a dimension in which relationships, communication and sociality are played mainly in the "non-space" of the virtual, of the social network, giving us the illusion of closeness, the virus takes away the true one of closeness, the real one: that nobody touch each other, no kisses, no hugs, at a distance, in the cold of non-contact.
How much have we taken these gestures and their meaning for granted?
In a social phase in which thinking about one's garden has become the rule, the virus sends us a clear message: the only way out is reciprocity, the sense of belonging, the community, the feeling of being part of something more great to take care of and that you can take care of us. The shared responsibility, the feeling that the fate depends not only on yours but also on everyone around you. And that you depend on them.
So if we stop hunting witches, wondering who is to blame or why all this has happened, but we wonder what we can learn from this, I believe we all have a lot to think about and commit to.
Because with the cosmos and its laws, obviously, we are in deep debt.
The virus is explaining it to us, at a high price. "
Melanie,
DeleteThis is an incredible reflection. I am sorry for not responding sooner. I appreciate you reading my blog. I have read your words over and over, and each time I get something more from them. You are an excellent writer and philosopher!