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I’ve been pretty much a goldfish for 8 or 9 days. I often forget what I was working on 5 minutes ago. And every time I have a great idea, if I don’t make an actual physical note of it, the entire idea just disappears into some kind of dark abyss where memories are lost.
This has made coping with the Trump presidency at the same time as being sick a bit brutal. Because each day I respond to the feelings of political crisis with a series of coping mechanisms.
And they work and they help.
But I’ve lost track of each and every one of those coping mechanisms. Which - as a writer - feels sad, and brutal.
My coping mechanisms are my fondest memories and I usually have a special memory bank for the thoughts and feelings I use to talk myself down from the ledge.
I just hope they’re buried in there somewhere and when my laryngitis passes, I’ll be able to retrieve them.
Wanting to pay attention to Trump’s incoming administration has, no doubt, extended my sickness. But it also makes planning my Sunday Philosophy discussion a little fragmented. Usually I let the ideas percolate throughout the week, before sitting down to write the article.
For example, Sartre’s War Diaries - which were his letters to Simone de Beauvoir during the first year of the war.
I’ve been thinking a lot about this quote from Jean-Paul Sartre about taking responsibility for the moment you’re alive, whether or not it’s the most beautiful moment:
“There may be more beautiful times, but this one is ours.”
Jean-Paul Sartre, The Devil and the Good Lord
In the book Creating A Feminist Existence In The World, Sandrine Sanos writes:
The year 1939 was a turning point for Beauvoir. In her own words:
“Suddenly, history fell upon her and she exploded. She found herself scattered to the four corners of the earth, connected to each and all.”
The first few months were anxious and fearful. The French waited for news of the war.
Beauvoir wrote, “War seemed to be nowhere.”
For nearly eight months, the average French citizen heard nothing. And they even began calling it ‘the phony war.’
After eight months of calm, the German army came swiftly and defeated the French Army in just six weeks - beginning the Nazi occupation of France.
This occupation would last until the Allied armies broke ground and liberated France in 1944…
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