All of us must allow the smile of persistent hope to gently come to the face, even as we grieve our losses, say the authors.
Authors
Richa Shukla, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Jindal Global Business School, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, India.
Mansi Rathour, Lecturer of Philosophy, Jindal Global Law School, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, India.
Summary
For some people, this year marks an absence, a void, an emptiness. The year end is an exit, a cruel remembrance of what couldn’t be achieved or brought back home. It is one of the few moments when memory comes back to haunt us, when we look back at the past and reflect.
It at times haunts our inabilities, by showing us how fulfilling the previous years perhaps were and how the future will be marked by the absence of someone or something. Many of us are part of an informal collective, grieving the death of a loved one we lost to Covid. A collective being mocked by death, situations, and fate.
We must allow ourselves to be touched by the warmth of memories, let fate and grief pity our situation perhaps, but never us. The weight of the losses that sleep next to us as silence is terrible. But may we all let it be, while we see the neighbors putting up lights in the balcony. Let our eyes be misty when we see other people coming back happy from shopping
The Other Side of Grief
Grief is often related to arbitrariness. Many philosophers have contemplated and concluded that life is an endless pursuit that will eventually end in suffering. That there is no aim to human existence, and that we are bound to pain and grief. While the existence of pain and grief in one’s life is not something we can discredit, these thinkers have not yet fully explored and found the justification for the hope that persists in us humans, despite the certainty of grief.
The presence of grief springs itself in an arbitrary manner. Sometimes in the form of an absence that hits you like a ball, sometimes like a gentle wind. This time, the end of the year will denote different meanings for grieving people. But all those in grief still try to find some solace, some warmth in the Christmas lights and those who have managed to beat Covid. All of us must allow the smile of persistent hope to gently come to the face, even as we grieve our losses.
Published in: Feminism In India
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