Gaining A Little Perspective

I’ve been keeping myself busy this past week by doing those kinds of household chores that are easily put to the side when something more fun comes up. You know the kind of stuff I mean; cleaning closets, wiping down woodwork and window blinds; the once a year or so stuff. I find that it provides me the same kind of mental restoration that weeding does. The simple mindless, repetitive motions that take little mental power.

I tend to do my cleaning in the morning, when my energy level is highest. Afternoons generally find me with my feet up in my recliner working on my current knitting project and getting caught up on my Netflix or Britbox shows. I don’t usually opt for a movie because I tell myself I don’t have the time, when in reality, I do. I just don’t want to make the commitment and seem like a total slug.

These days I have plenty of time and no one to care whether I’m behaving in a slug like manner or not so I’ve begun to check into the movies I have available to me. This is how I happened upon “The Zookeeper’s Wife” on HBO.

If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. Without giving too much away, it is about a young woman living in Warsaw, Poland in 1939 who is married to the keeper of the Warsaw Zoo. The movie follows the historical events of the Nazi invasion including the rounding up of the Jewish population and eventual transport of the Jews to the camps. The zoo keeper and his wife were not Jews, but had many friends who are. They devised a very clever and successful plan to hide and ultimately rescue many of them right under the noses of the occupying Nazi army. You’ll have to watch the movie for the details.

As I watched the film, I was struck by the fact that in order to keep safe, the people in hiding had to remain totally quiet and still during the daylight hours and only allowed to move freely around the house well into the late night hours. Their security laid in not only their remaining put inside that house, but also in their complete silence. Obviously, this was not news to me. I was born just ten years after the second world war ended and grew up with the stories of Jews who were hidden away, like “The Diary of Anne Frank.” But, the affect any story has on a person depends on what their circumstances are. As a child, I would picture myself as Anne, locked away in an attic. Nowadays, I would probably relate more to her mother.

The other day, it was difficult to not make the comparison to our current condition, to remain shut in our homes to remain safe but with some major exceptions and I am definitely not comparing social distancing to the horrors of the Holocaust. But, when I compare what I am being asked to do; to stay in my own home with full access to all of my stuff, with running water, electricity and the internet to allow me the privilege of watching films in the afternoon, my situation pales in comparison to what others have had to endure in the past to survive. It is a humbling thought.

I believe that to get through whatever is asked from us in the upcoming weeks and months, humility is key. None of us is more important that the sum of us all. If that means we have to suspend and sacrifice the routines of our former lives, that’s what we’ll have to do. Some of us will even step out from our comfort zones and like the zookeeper’s wife reach out to those who are vulnerable. But if all we’re asked to do is to stay home and away from others until the danger has passed, it’s the least any of us can do.