No New Pains
Published: Wed, 04/29/20
I am somewhat ashamed to admit that I have been thinking that I am glad that my parents are dead and not having to see the situation we are living through now. It would have been very hard if my mother had had her stroke three months later than she did. In December and January we could support her in her final days and give her a good send off. All of which would have been well nigh impossible by the end of March. I am glad my mother died when she did, but I still miss both my parents.
My father died in 2001 but he was sixteen when the war started and living in North London. His older brother was captured at Dunkirk and did not return until 1944, I believe his younger brother was evacuated to the countryside for at least the first part of the war. Air raid precautions meant that blackouts were enforced as soon as war was declared. That meant London was seriously dark at night, the idea was to make the whole city invisible to a German bomber after dark. All windows blacked out, no streetlights and vehicles had to drive with the absolute minimum of lighting. The bombing of London did not actually begin until the 7th of September 1940 but the enforced darkness had already killed people in road accidents. Then there was the bombing itself with long nights spent huddling in air raid shelters while large parts of the cities burned.
My mother was in a safer location living in rural Lancashire. She told me of relatives traveling up from Liverpool to have a few days break from the threat of air raids. She also told me of the little boy her family took in as an evacuee. After a couple of weeks his mother came, said she was missing him too much and took him back to the the city regardless of the danger. Apparently a few years after the war a young man on a motorcycle called at the house to pay his respects. The small boy had safely grown up but had not forgotten his brief stay with my mother’s family. My father did lose a twelve year old cousin in the London blitz.
So, would my parents, while still sound in body and mind, have been distressed by the Corona Virus lock down? My father would probably have shared my skepticism about the politics involved but as for the experience itself? It would probably have just reminded them of the war, but without the bombs.
The first poem in the Poetic Edda is the Volspa, or Seeress’s Prophec, which in 66 verses covers the history of the nine worlds from creation to destruction and rebirth. The Volspa contains more than a hint of the cyclical nature of history. Even after war, chaos, and destruction there is renewal, rebuilding and rebirth. So, whatever we are going through we can think of Lorde’s words, ‘There are no new pains’.
Having a baby daughter makes me wonder how she is going to cope with the experiences which await her. Truth is that I am not glad that my parents are dead, I am sad that Iduna will never get to hug her paternal grandparents, hear their stories and learn from their experiences. It has to come down to the generation which is left to just be there while the child experiences the joys and sorrows of growing up. When the pain seems to be too much to bear then perhaps there will be moments to say, ‘it is okay, we have been here before, and we are still standing and you will get through this too.’
Regards
Graham