Living life on life’s terms. I can wrap my head around that, but my emotions process at a slower pace. Right now, life’s terms mean a pandemic, a divided country, and a closed border. On one side of the border is our permanent residence in the USA and on the other side is our seasonal cottage in Canada.
Attached to that seasonal cottage are childhood memories of life at the beach as well as a dream of retirement for my husband and me puttering around up there and sharing beach life with our children, grandchildren, friends, and family. We are now separated from that cottage, that neighboring country, and that dream.
The closing of the border marks the end of an era, a time of innocence. Since the border had never closed before, I thought it would never close. Until now, I have been ignorant of the fact that entering a foreign country, even one that is nearby and familiar, is a privilege, it is not a right.
Knowing that fact changes how I feel about owning a cottage across the border. Since the border has been closed for the entire summer of 2020, I am no longer ignorant of that possibility. If I choose to take the risk of owning a cottage in another country, I am responsible for what happens to the cottage if we cannot go there to tend it. Coordinating that care this summer has involved all the challenges of owning a cottage without the pleasures.
To emotionally complicate matters, I love, love, love the cottage with its mid-century modern design perched on top of a sand dune affording a spectacular view of the lake and the beach. Every time we go there, my senses remind me of childhood memories at the beach and another era, but it is not possible to go back.
I am no longer ignorant of what it takes to tend the cottage or whether the border could be open or closed, or winter weather cause damage, or rising sea levels wash away the beach. It is not a matter of if a pandemic will happen either, but it is a matter of how we will use our resources wisely given that fact.
It is the end of an era, an era I associate with childhood in the 1960’s. During that time, I was blissfully unaware of property maintenance, diseases, politics, and borders. It was a time that I felt taken care of by my family, my community, and my country. I realize that I was privileged to grow up with good housing, education, health care and even summer vacations at the beach. We were living the American dream when one wage-earner could provide all that for his wife and eight children.
I do not want to wax nostalgic and paint a picture of a perfect time in the past; there were dark aspects, pockets of ignorance that have since been revealed and changes made. As a child, I did not know about most of them and I was protected by the thought that my family and our country were the best.
It builds a reservoir of hope in the soul of a child to think the world is good, but childhood like all eras comes to an end. I know more now. I still have hope. We know more now. There always will be more to learn on this collective journey of consciousness.
Today, we are experiencing the end of an era in our country, an era when we were generally ignorant of the possibility of a pandemic and the reality of social inequity. That is no longer possible. Gaining knowledge comes with a loss of innocence and the choice of what to do with what we now know. Pleading ignorance does not restore innocence.
That time, that era is behind us. We are no longer innocent or ignorant of both the pandemic and the racially imbalanced circumstances created by a widening gap in wealth inequity, reinforced by greed.
With that knowledge and the subsequent loss of the world we once knew, there is grief. While we grieve letting go of an era that is ending, we can simultaneously envision a new society for one is on its way. Whenever an era ends, another is about to begin.
In times of transition, there is an element of chaos and confusion while we integrate new information. We need to take good care of ourselves to meet the challenge of adapting to life on life’s terms, processing the emotions that go along with it, and ushering in a new era.
We are being called to create our new American dream, to let go of what was and to move forward. There is no lingering in the past. We sold our cottage. Resources are needed elsewhere.
Imagine the world you want to live in. Consider the difference between rights and privileges.
For me, that world, beginning with this country would provide basic rights of housing, education, health care, and opportunities for all to build a life that is good.
What do you envision? Create a picture of it and then act accordingly and what is more, vote accordingly.
