A teaching colleague and informal mentor of mine, Judith Hamera, says that our job in moments of interregnum - when the old order, with all its cruelties and comforts, is turning toward the new, but we’re not there yet - is to consider ourselves as subjects of history. She’s right, of course, and I still find it prickly: what do you mean I don’t control what happens? What do you mean I should think about not just what to do but how to to see and hear? What do you mean I am not in charge of my own destiny all the time?!?!!?
My individualist indoctrination bristles at the idea that my future is wrapped up not just in yours, but in the decisions of people with way more power than me. Solidarity is overlapping webs. Witnessing is both subjective and poignant.
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