Plek maak saak / Place matters
Terwyl ek hierdie skryf, het ons sopas dag sewe van ons een-en-twintig dae isolasietydperk in ons land betree. Die wêreld het in ‘n groot mate tot ‘n stilstand gekom. Dit is vir ons almal nogal ‘n uitdaging om te prosesseer wat tans aan die gebeur is, en ons almal is onseker wat ons kan verwag in die volgende paar maande. Wat wel duidelik is, is dat wat ons tans beleef, geskiedenis gaan wees in die toekoms.
Tans is die gonsword op almal se lippe social distancing of sosiale afstand. Vir die volgende ruk, tensy ons ‘n noodsaaklike diens lewer, gaan niemand van ons enige grense verskuif nie. Nou is nie die tyd om nuwe mense te ontmoet nie (tensy ons dit op sosiale media doen of op ‘n afstand!), of ‘n tyd om ‘n ander woonbuurt of dorp te besoek nie. My tent gaan nêrens heen vir die volgende een-en-twintig dae nie, tensy dit my eie agterplaas is!
Hoe doen ons die lewe in ‘n konteks waar grense so nou vir ons getrek is? Hoe leef ons as mense, mense wat gemaak is vir verbintenis, wanneer verbintenis in die fisiese sin van die woord vir nou van ons af weggevat is? Tans seil ons in ongekende waters met onsekerheid.
Tog, as jy mooi daaroor dink, is sosiale afstand die laaste ding wat ons nodig het in ‘n tyd van inperking. Ons kort wel fisiese afstand, maar as ons afstand van mekaar hou in ‘n sosiale sin, sal ons biljoene eensame mense in die wêreld hê, en dit sal ook tot ‘n krisis lei! Ons almal het nou gemeenskap nodig, al kan ons nie werklik fisies by mekaar wees nie.
Wanneer ‘n mate van normaliteit weer tot ons lewens terugkeer, wat sou ons geleer het? Sal ons terugkeer na meer van dieselfde, of sal ons oë oop wees vir nuwe moontlikhede, vars visie en anderster perspektiewe?
Hopelik sal ons ‘n nuwe waardering hê vir plek. Plek maak saak. Die vermoë om ons liggame van een plek na ‘n volgende te beweeg, is ‘n groot ding! Wanneer my lyf beweeg word met intensie, stel ek myself oop for verbintenis. Wanneer ons weer begin om rond te beweeg, sal ons maar net na dieselfde plekke beweeg? Ja, natuurlik kan ons. Baie van die plekke waarheen ons gewoonlik na beweeg, het ‘n integrale deel van ons gemeenskap geword. Maar wanneer ons weer begin om te beweeg, hoekom beweeg ons nie vir ‘n slag na plekke wat ons voorheen vermy het nie? Jy sien, sekere van die plekke wat ons voorheen vermy het, het dalk juis ons lywe nodig. Sekere plekke kort ons ‘daar-wees’. Ons kort juis soms die plekke wat ons vermy.
Hoekom maak ons nie die verandering nie? Waarheen moet jou lyf skuif? Waarvoor is jy bang? Wat het jy om werklik te verloor? Hoe konfronteer ons ons vrees om die grense in ons lewens oor te steek?
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Place matters.
As I am writing this, we have entered day seven of our twenty-one day lockdown period in South Africa because of Covid-19. Worldwide, things have come to a standstill. It is really difficult to process what is taking place right now or what we might expect in the next few months, but it’s clear that what we are experiencing now, is history in the making.
For now, the buzzword on the world’s lips is social distancing. For the time being, unless you are delivering an essential service, we will not be crossing any boundaries. This is not a time for meeting new people (unless we do so on social media) or a time for exploring a different neighbourhood or town. My tent won’t be going anywhere in the next twenty-one days, unless it’s in my own backyard.
How do we do life in a context where our boundaries are drawn for us? How do we live as human beings; beings made for connection, when connection in the physical sense is taken away from us? For now, we are sailing in uncharted waters with much uncertainty.
If you think about it, though, social distancing is the last thing that we need in a time of isolation. We may need physical distancing, but if we keep our distance from each other in a social sense, we will have billions of very lonely people in the world. What we need is community, even though we can’t be with each other physically right now.
When a sense of normalcy returns to our lives, what will we have learnt? Will it be more of the same, or will our eyes be opened to new possibilities, fresh visions, different perspectives?
Hopefully we will have a new appreciation for place. Place matters. The ability to move our bodies from one place to the next is a big thing. When my body is moved with intention, I open myself up for connection. When we start moving again, will we move to the same places? Sure, we should. Many of the places that we usually move towards have become an integral part of our community. But when we start moving again, how about we move to places and people that we dodged before? You see, some of the places we have avoided, need our bodies. Some places need our presence. We need some places.
How about we make that change? Where does your body need to move? What are you afraid of? What do you have to lose? How do we confront the fear of crossing the boundaries that we have become so comfortable with?
