Resistance

September almost ran out.  One more week left.  You can feel these are the last days of summer by the chill in the morning air.  Summer is over for another year, and we are waiting for the fall.  For the time being, I am resisting the urge to become another brown dried up leaf flowing downstream on a cold and dark stream that doesn’t lead anywhere.  I resist.

The world continues to whirl into madness and the more time passes the worst things get.  We started from complete isolation into our homes, into our families and that made a bit of sense at the time.  Isolate to stay safe.  But I guess that was not enough.  We created a whole system with complicated rules that serve no purpose and even more complicated exceptions.  To be honest, the exceptions were more understandable than the rules, but I resisted the temptation of developing those conspiracy theories that I love so much.  I decided to obey, file in line and play along.  All for the common good.

As the economy suffered and people needed to work because they needed the money because they needed to feed their families because they needed to live, the measures loosened.  Pubs opened so people can go and have a pint.  Restaurants open because people needed to eat, which makes me wonder how some people managed to survive the lockdown having to prepare their own food.  Travel was selectively allowed especially over the summer, and sports were starting right after the holidays.  

It seemed too convenient that the allowances were very nicely aligned with the social habits of the people rather than the ability of the virus to infect the population.  The political power play was still under way.  The seeds of fear were sown and the fruits were starting to hang.  The daily death count reports were enough to put a scare on anyone.  Following almost three months of isolation we were willing to believe and do anything in order to avoid making things worse.  The information is conflicting and unclear but we make our own interpretations and we just carry on.  The world appears to be hostile and the other people in it seem to be our enemies, the others, the ones that will hurt us.  But no, I resisted.  I refused to think the people around me as enemies.  I understood their fear and stood by those that needed support.

The madness changed shape and size.  The rules changed and just like in any conflict there are those that take advantage of their peers.  There are those that become rich by stepping on other’s backs.  Well, in our case it wasn’t so dramatic but we were in the way of some people making money, and that led us on our way to homelessness.  Well, that was just after the trip to unemployment which came right after our trip to the cemetery.  We were reaching a breaking point and that is when we needed to collect our strength.  We needed some guidance and that came in different shapes and forms.  The support came from our friends and family thinking of us or giving us a kind word.  And in some cases, it came by actually practicing their beliefs and staying true to their values.  And in some strange way, it worked.

After losing my freedom, losing people I love, losing my job, losing my house and losing a good part of my health, I resist.  I resist the thought that this will defeat me.  I resist the idea that the opportunistic actions of others will define my life and my soul.  I resist to get tangled with the thought of injustice and inequality.  I resist the idea of being wronged.

I chose to remember my core values that I understood and moulded when I was a young man.  Back then where dreams were real and were only to become reality.  That was when I believed that my life is a journey and around every turn lies a new beginning, a new opportunity.  That is when I believed that every person has value and everyone can make us wiser.  That is when I believed that all we have to do is do our best.  

So yes, I resist the pain and disappointment I see in today’s world and I resist to think that this is something bad happening to us.  This is just another lesson and a new beginning.  We are resisting and moving forward.