We begin our re-engagement with the Declaration of Independence with reflections on Life. This is particularly relevant in the spring and summer of 2021, as our country emerges from a year of illness and death, including a particularly dark winter of COVID-19. What does it mean to be alive today? And where in this vast country do you feel most alive?
Click on a prompt below to begin a short creative exercise. Each prompt contains a guide to help you give voice to your thoughts, feelings, and experiences in relation to the theme of being alive.
2021 begins a new chapter in many of our lives. This is not the kind of New Year resolutions from our past, which tend to be fleeting and often ignored. Share a question, memory, observation or story through image, writing or sound. Example: This is the year the world stopped spinning on its axis, the year we never thought we’d escape from the island of our homes, the year I learned how much I loved to be touched.
Think of a place that is special to you, and how different it feels now that we are emerging out of the pandemic. Share a question, memory, observation or story through image, writing or sound. Example: The long, lingering hug. On the Euclid walking trail. Not something you would normally do with a work colleague. But I couldn’t resist. We’d been in many Zooms over the last 18 months. But never had time to pause and connect in a deeper way. “So great to see you! How are you?” The rest of my walking group moved on, but I stayed. Arms stretched. “I’m fully vaccinated!” “Me too!” An eon of warm and decadent silence. - Karthick Ramakrishnan, Inland Southern California I kept her safe, but I needed her so much to reassure me that we will all be ok. My daughter stayed safe, but I was so scared for her in Florida. A mother rendered helpless by this dark presence that surrounded the world But now after the miracle of science and community, I am here in my favorite place. My mother’s arms - Maggie Gunther Osborn, Baltimore, Maryland
Think about what you’ve lost, or what we have collectively lost, this past year. By giving voice to that grief, we are also praising what we love in our lives. Both grief and praise are made eloquent by our love. Example: I grieve the momentary kinships, sitting beside a stranger on a city bus, our unmasked smiles and small talk, sharing our breath. I praise the chemistry of the vaccine, this small miracle schooling our cells. Time Lost time, a year and some months The small child just at the point of opening to new learning Mothers called back to their primary work from freedom and control People in their last months, year, to never be embraced I heard the voices and saw the actions of neighbors through my window and ever present screen New people, new relationships, new skills, time to think and pray I did not lose time, the time was working to heal me I now humbly, gratefully, understand life’s time - Maggie Gunther Osborn, Baltimore, Maryland
