Yesterday, we watched the light beam make its way into the chamber of Newgrange and luckily, it was a sunny morning. We watched it on the tiny screen of R's cellphone and it was ridiculous and wonderful at the same time.
This is an older video but it looked just like it. Those ancient Celts knew their stuff.
When walking in the cold, I usually end up counting my steps, pulling my knees up and rolling my feet with every step to stay warm. This eventually sends me into a kind of drowsy absentmindedness, just functioning, for a while and then a string of thoughts starts up, sending my mind all over the place. Today, there were snippets from a podcast on the end of civilisation (Margaret Wheatly in conversation with Sarah Wilson), the new school the grandchild with go to after the xmas holidays, my brother's birthday coming up, how to use all of the leftover wool for one big project so I start from scratch, how reading thrillers is like "eating chocolate in bed" (a quote by Siri Hustvedt) and that I have actually read 99 books this year - most of them thrillers I don't even remember.
As usual, R had announced that his new year's resolution is to not have any resolutions, while I silently started to make a list. Or two. Out loud, we compared our lists of the number of doctor's visits we need to schedule, strictly check-ups and vaccine updates. It's going to be an exciting year. Watch this space.
No matter what times we live in, no matter who holds power or who is being oppressed, we all have to hang onto ourselves, to what we know to be right and good, to not sacrifice those values even for our own skin, much less our own power, success, or status.
The moral codes we live by do not have to be immaculate. They do not have to check every box of what we think is expected of us, or what we expect of ourselves. All they must be—and this is harder than it sounds—is sturdy enough to withstand the wreckage of history.
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