like art — like life

I’m not much of a proclaimer of silver linings. I tend to simplify situations. A thing is what it is. These are terrible times. As the Chinese saying goes, Better to be a dog at peace than a human in anarchy. Of course, that goes without saying. But I saw an interesting snippet from Story author Robert McKee. Of this time in the life of the world, he said, “Take notes.”

            In fiction, the object of the game is to apply pressure to a character until something hidden, a part of the truth, is revealed. In the United States, small businesses that took a lifetime to build are crumbling overnight. Thirty-three million people have become unemployed in the last two months. People whose unemployment checks have failed to arrive wait in 36-hour-long lines at food banks. More than 75,000 families are grieving for someone they lost to coronavirus. Sudden and extraordinary pressure.

            The pressures of this pandemic are indeed forcing people to reveal who they are, but they are complex, and one has to wonder if they can see what’s revealed about themselves. People are showing up to protest rallies armed to wage war. Aggressors threaten nurses in scrubs and face masks who are trying to protect dying patients. One woman, wearing an American flag as a face mask, protested in Illinois with a sign that read, “Arbeit macht frei,” the Nazi slogan above the gates to the Auschwitz and Dachau concentration camps. The Nazis intended the greeting—“Work will set you free”—to pacify their victims and give them hope so they would be easier to control until the time came to exterminate them. When the woman in Illinois was questioned about using that slogan on her protest sign, she said she’s not a Nazi, that she has Jewish friends. So what is the pressure of this pandemic revealing about her? What would it take for her to see herself?

            For weeks, I’ve been holding my breath, wishing for things to go back to normal, back to when we were more like dogs at peace. But now, I’m guessing it’s wiser to accept that the days ahead of us will be new and therefore unknowable. The pressures will continue, and they will change in form and intensity. We’ll have to navigate the best way we can without knowing what to expect. Maybe it’s a chance to see what these times can show us about ourselves. We can seek self-understanding and decide how we will respond. I think it’s helpful to remember that as much as these events expose our weaknesses, they can also expose what is most inspiring about us. We should take notes. As life takes on the shape of art, I hope we can hold on to the best of who we are and be strong for each other, come what may.