IMPROPER DOSE NO. 19
©Ale Zapata
How to write with a broken heart?
-by Barbora Horská (Curator / Editor-in-chief of Improper Dose)
Failed personal revolutions; everything that was wrong with the world before Putin invaded Ukraine; Putin invading Ukraine; blatant racism regarding refugees; calling pointing out the blatant racism 'oversimplification'; all the other wars around the world still happening; Covid still going on; everything that was wrong with the world getting worse; environmental crisis...
It's too much, too complicated, too challenging to process, and lately, it is becoming harder than ever not to use the world's complexity as an excuse to polarize or ignore the issues completely.
The nearby war triggered our survival instincts and (intergenerational) traumas. People of the previously occupied countries in the area mobilized immediately. People from countries historically playing the role of aggressor asked to pause and advocate against guns. People from war zones outside of the European continent pointed out the racial aspect of disproportionate aid and treatment of refugees based on their skin color and religion –and all of them were right.
Do we dare to look for the emotional and mental capacity to acknowledge all of these positions as valid simultaneously, to respond with YES AND instead of BUT?
To at least try, we need time. Only one thing can be said (and done) at a time, so to put multiple angles into speech (and solutions to practice), we need a moment to express them one after the other. It's not hierarchical, just practical. Stay in that uncomfortable conversation for a little longer. Maybe you will see another's perspective is not necessarily denying or downplaying your own –it adds balance to it.
Paradoxically, empathy might be what is coming in the way. Served without compassion and self-awareness, this automatic response makes us vulnerable to us vs. them thinking. When we feel protective over 'our' group, we feel threatened by whoever we learned to exclude from that. Here, media and politicians play the central role, and I refuse to repeat their narrative.
However, if we manage to avoid the 'misplaced anger' trap among us, we may see the complexity's positive side –it allows for the distribution of forces. To help, to protest, to create, to care –support is needed in many different ways, which means there is always something each of us can do within the scope of our resources.
And that's great! Because action, however small, has the best potential to help us avoid getting paralyzed by fear, shock, disbelief –all natural to feel but not impossible to overcome.
Even more daring –let's stay aware of how it feels to feel the fear of war and what people fleeing it looks like. Not their skin, hair, or eye color, but their (perceived) economic background because smartphone ownership doesn't protect you from bombing. The next time the wars in Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Palestine, and other –by us forgotten– places appear on the news, remember what the urgency to help Ukrainians felt like. How natural it is to offer our homes, donate, buy food and hygienic products, gather and protest the oppressor, and support one another when our reality is suddenly falling apart.
To persevere, however, we need joy. Or at least a different focus. To recharge, or simply forget for a second, read our Dose of everything that has nothing to do with war: a chapter from the book Klatschen Reicht Nicht! written by Luna Al-Mousli and illustrated by Clara Berlinski that we got the chance to support with Reboot the System exhibition. Besides that, we are happy to feature another episode of Pedro del Real's I run high on the new and I love the old comic series alongside Andrea Z Scharf's Notes to Self, as well as to present My Neighbour Pierre –a project about delimiting the boundaries between public and private.
As you continue reading:
Take care,
expand the empathy,
call it war
but focus on peace.