In the dark times, we must sing

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In dark times
Will there also be singing?
Yes, there will be singing.
About the dark times.

from “Motto” by Bertolt Brecht


We are in dark times. Though I cannot sing (in tune), I can write and I do write, so that is what I am doing in these dark times. Writing about these dark times.

The world is witnessing the beginning of Year Three of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. With 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed so far and countless civilians dead or maimed, I wonder how much worse it can get. Of course, actually, the world has already gotten a whole lot worse with the October 7 invasion of Israel by Hamas last year. A stark and bloody reminder that dark times can always get darker.

How to survive?

For those fortunate enough by happenstance of birth to be nowhere close to those two conflicts (only two of 80 in the world today according to the Geneva Academy), I believe it’s important to be aware of the magnitude, to witness the horror, to hold the victims in our heart, and to keep hope alive through both knowledge and action. (Donating money to humanitarian relief agencies is one form of action: Amnesty International. MSF. Red Cross. World Central Kitchen. Etc.)

I write as a way to process the state of our world and to bear witness to what I am seeing unfold as news on my screen. I first wrote about Ukraine (my tone naive) a few weeks after the invasion, then again a few months later (my tone reflecting my greater understanding). I last wrote about Ukraine as the second year of the invasion by Russia began (my tone tinged with despair). Today, it is harder to write innocently, convincingly of hope, to believe the horrors will end soon. Yet that I must. Believe. It. Will. End. Soon. How else to keep breathing? For I am here, not there and I am able to breathe, deeply, freely, gratefully. Therefore, I must.

I have read Marge Piercy’s saga of World War II, Gone to Soldiers, several times so compelling do I find it, and every time I read that book I am keenly aware that, while I know the war will end when the story reaches 1945, the characters do not know that. They are living it as it is unfolding. For me, WWII looks like this: 1939-1945, but for the characters it looks like this: 1939 — 

Open ended, unending, endless.

So it is with Putin’s madness, Hamas’s horrors, Netanyahu’s merciless defence — open ended. But not, please not, endless.

While my knowing and my witnessing and my writing has changed by not one whit anything about any of these global horrors, my own understanding of how these horrors can come to be has changed. I know more clearly where the dangers of Trump’s ego maniacal drive for presidential power can lead the world. And what the insidious side-effects of Poilievre’s dog-whistle populism might bring Canada. 

So this knowledge is my song in the darkness, is my song about the dark times. It is my version of a weapon, for it shall inform how I participate — and vote — in the next election in my country and my community.

And that is as powerful a song as I can sing.

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Land acknowledgement: I respectfully recognize that I live on the original lands of Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation.

Photo by Aron Visuals on Unsplash

Comments

  1. Ann without an EFebruary 27, 2024 at 4:58 AM

    I have six grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

    What will become of them, growing up in this broken world?

    ReplyDelete
  2. RandaFebruary 27, 2024 at 7:11 AM

    Ann, I have only one child and one grandchild, but I ask myself this question daily. Thanks once again for your encouragement, Amanda.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousFebruary 27, 2024 at 9:26 AM

    We used to hear when we were younger, 50+ years ago, “the worlds’ going to hell in a hand basket!” When we hear from friends they weren’t having children because of this, my husband said, “Maybe our children are the ones that will change the world.” I agreed. Thirty + years later we see our adult children building tiny homes for a living with integrity and working to help our valley grow food sustainable. Both are social justice conscious, in their communities and globally. They are doing their part in the world around them, bringing peace into their own young families. May this ripple go out into the world.

    ReplyDelete

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