A Different December

Melancolie, Albert György 
Quai du Mont Blanc Geneva, Switzerland

 
Please have a look with me at the figure above. What do you see?
Is it deep sadness? Despair? Hopelessness?

Whatever it is that speaks to you in the character sitting there, I'm sure you can relate to it in one way or another. Anyone of us has experienced difficult and devastating periods, and especially in times like this, with a world fighting a virus, feelings of uncertainty or longing for the one we love, maybe feelings of missing out- they are our constant companions these days. Like in the sculpture, they feel like a hole in our hearts, and we feel the cold wind blowing through.

When we have learned something during life and the past year in particular it would be that some things will not just go away. We have learned that there, like often in life, is no waking up back to factory settings. We cannot have another life. Because we already have one. This is an unwritten but in the same time most promising and exciting  law- and we have signed for it.

Look at the sculpture again. Do you feel like that sometimes? Then I want to tell you something. The most loving, most wise, most fascinating people- and I do love and know someone who is like this- have gone through moments as such. They have experienced loss of beloved ones, dishonesty, heartbreak. The ups and downs, however,  have provided them with a sensitivity towards anything they encounter, an understanding of life, a sense of the meaning of love that is simply breathtaking and quintessential to me. These people are not born like this, they grow and learn, and it does not matter when learning and growing happens or how old they are. 

Incredible people like you are sometimes unanware of your own brilliance and beauty. You are sometimes not aware of the fact that things to tackle, the difficulties you never asked for and nonetheless have thrown your way, did not make you small. Because nothing ever can. The way you reacted to any challenging situation has strengthened you. Your unswerving willingness to take responsibility, regardless of whose making it was that caused the tensions, has secretly given you the upper hand in this sometimes chaotic life. Even though you cannot always see it. But I can. I can see all your beauty.

The figure in my picture is therefore not only an allegory of defeat or 
desperation. Please look again. Did you notice how marvellously human the legs and arms look in contrast to the somewhat abstract head and upper body? Did you see how strong the feet are, how beautifully carved out the hands and fingers are? This is because we have a choice, and it is our choice to make. We have legs to stand up for our right to feel pain and sadness, but we also have feet to keep moving. We have arms to embrace and hold one another; we have hands to reach out and fingers to touch each other's heart. 

And maybe, just maybe, with that in mind and a lot of love and looking after one another, the hole in the centre will begin to heal. With every little step towards courage and positivity over the years it will fill like a magical jigsaw. An jigsaw built of opalescent colours and wonderful pieces and patterns you might not have planned on, let alone ever imagined. And ever so slowly, the hole will become a window of experiences and events that always make you see the other side.

​Now, let's go out and be brave!
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Photo: My own