At a Crossroads
One of the positive impacts of the Covid 19 lockdowns has
been what is called, the Great Human Pause. On the one hand, as human movement
became limited, nature was able to breathe again, wild animals explored empty
urban spaces, air quality improved.
Environmentalists have renewed their efforts to find an equitable
balance between the needs of people and nature.
Another, more unexpected, consequence has been the
opportunity for people forced to stay indoors, to reexamine their own lives,
values, and social relationships. Since it has affected all the nations of the
world rather than just an obscure part of the world, it allows a unique opportunity to decide on what
fundamental changes can be made in a post-covid world. The world is at a crossroads.
It is easy to empathise with Robert Frost’s poem “The Road
Not taken” . He comes upon “Two roads
diverged in a yellow wood,/And sorry I could not travel both. He takes “the one
less traveled by,/And that has made all the difference.” Shakespeare’s Macbeth is presented again and
again with choices, but he always makes the wrong choice, leading to his tragic
end.
In 2008, Detective Kim Bogucki of the Seattle Police
Department initiated the “If Project”. Inmates of women’s prisons were asked
“If there was something somebody could have said or done to change the path
that led you here, what would it be?” The intention was to help young girls,
potential offenders, make wiser choices. As a student, Laila Pathan, conducted
a study for the If Project in Karachi Jail. In her interviews, as in Kim
Bogucki’s , the women, for the first time, realized they could have chosen
another way.
Martin Luther King Jr had a speech prepared, but when
Mahalia Jackson called out “tell ‘em about the dream,” he made an intuitive
decision and spoke spontaneously starting with “ I have a dream”, which had a
lasting impact on the Civil Rights movement.
The Trojans lost the ten year war with the Greeks when they
chose to accept Odysseus’s gift of a large wooden horse, that had 30 soldiers
hidden inside. The Berlin wall came down
in 1989 when Politburo member, Günter Schabowski, misread the written
instructions he was given. History
is filled with decisions that changed the tide of events.
In everyday life, many of us find ourselves at a crossroads
–decisions about jobs, careers, marriage, migration, education, investments.
Gauguin left his family and job as a stockbroker, to become an artist. Degas
and Cezanne both dropped out of Law college.
Crossroads often have a spiritual symbolism. Robert
Johnson’s 1936 “Cross Road Blues” inspired generations of
musicians. A growing number of art and literary events are titled Crossroads,
suggesting the exchange of ideas or
crossing boundaries.
Crossroads are also viewed as mysterious and dangerous. In folk magic it is a paranormal space
between the worlds, where demons dwell.
The Greeks placed shrines to Hecate, queen of the witches. In England
suicides and criminals were buried at crossroads. Conversely, in Japan crossroads
symbolise joining rather than division, and are a symbol of fertility.
The fear and attraction of crossroads is closely linked with
destiny. Which road is full of promise and which leads to loss? How can we be
sure we choose wisely? Do we have choice or are life’s turns predestined?
Crossroads are a human construct, directing us to a finite
number of choices. Nature‘s way is a network of possibilities. Animals and
birds use a variety of mechanism– the earth’s electromagnetic field, the sun,
the moon, smell, ocean currents and, most significantly, communicating with
each other.
Significant journeys are made collectively and not by
individuals. For humans, the burden of choice need not be shouldered by an
individual. Choice evolves from instincts informed by collective social wisdom and
sets off infinite ripples of change.
Durriya Kazi
September 21, 2020
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