“Oh, to start out each day and greet each encounter with open arms—”
(Do
On some days the option of greeting each encounter “with open arms” lacks luster in my daily aspirations. I can become preoccupied with the fear-laden spirit currently existing in our country and beyond. On other days, though, a calm hope takes central stage. The difference? Keeping a perspective. When I delve into the history of courageous people who lived with life-threatening situations, this reality does not discount current realities, but it does allow me to stand back to gain a larger look at “the whole” of life, outside my small view. I still invest in trying to bring about good and I trust that “this, too, will eventually pass.” Life will not turn out the way I want, but I will have what is needed to give my best to it.
Google tells me that perspective is “a particular attitude toward, or a way of regarding something; a point of view.” My thick, unabridged Webster’s Dictionary offers more, noting the Latin root as “perspicere, to look through….The relationship or proportion of the parts to a whole, regarded from a particular standpoint. … a distant view.” Perspective influences the way I look through what is before me and how I view what lies beyond it.
Here’s how a helpful perspective on national and world events recently assisted me in greeting each encounter more openly. As Lent began, I chose to read The Diary of Anne Frank (for the fourth time), to recall the amazing spirit of this teenage girl hiding in the annex of an office building with seven other Jews, for 761 days. They lived in fear of being found, were never able to be outdoors, relied totally on food brought in to them, sometimes had to eat half-rotten potatoes for weeks. (All this makes paying a steep price for eggs seem minor.) I needed this reminder of how people in a perilous time managed to enjoy moments of celebration and keep an ongoing gratitude for what they were given.
Along with reading Anne Frank’s diary, I came across Sisters in Science (Olivia Campbell) in the library’s New Non-Fiction section. Although the four trail-blazing, German physicists, Hedwig Kohn, Lise Meitner, Hertha Sponer and Hildegard Stücklen, “were eminent in their fields, they had no choice but to flee due to their Jewish ancestry or anti-Nazi sentiments.” This revealing history about their uncertain and traumatic departures also put my anxieties into a clearer perspective. (Full disclosure: I skipped the sections detailing their Einstein-like experiments and research in physics.)
Encounters with brave people of the past do not instill a naïveté in me about existing conditions nor do they deter me from a keen intention to be proactive and compassionate about society’s welfare. Being in touch with historical, courageous people assures me of my inner resiliency. It leads me to trust in the promise of 2Corinthians4:8-10: “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;….”
We are not alone in whatever it is that we fear or suffer. As we engage with the Holy Week scriptures, let us trust that we will find a valuable perspective in them regarding whatever troubles our spirit.
Abundant peace,
Joyce Rupp
