Books and Resilience

Books

Writers Week in Adelaide is always a good time to dig deep into books, literary conversations and to sense meaning into emerging trends. The Adelaide Festival of Arts offers up the same, and last night I went to Dogs of Europe. A demanding, dizzy, multi-media experience by the Belarus Free Theatre. It is dystopian and yet it felt very past and present tense as well. Colonisation and loss of language, place and family disintegration being universal themes.

I am reeling from a few interconnected geopolitical threads,not the least the war raging in Ukraine and the tender relationships with China. But what got me deep in my bones, was the burning of the books imagery on repeat throughout the play.

Storytime

For those following along, you will know that I worked with our local libraries to support reading for school students of the summer. Readers who read seven or more books were rewarded with a certificate and we had a great celebration of their acheivements.

Since the reading challenge, I have instituted regular sessions at our libraries with me attending storytime with toddlers and pre-schoolers. It is a great way to connect with the younger members of the community and their carers. It is being received very well and I thoroughly enjoyed my first encounter.

However, not everyone is happy with my encounters and there is a portion of the community accusing me of 'grooming' the children and other such nonsense. I am not taking it personally, however it is political. It is another extension of the rise of fascism in our community polarising. These kind of attitudes do lead to actions that threaten our precious democracy.

(I have shared a little more about this in a recent blog for those who might be interested.)

Resilient practices

Helping our democracy be resilient is something we can all contribute too. Here is some good advice about building resilience from the Kids Helpline - we can apply the same tools to our democracy:

1. Having a?positive attitude
2. Finding good friends
3. Feeling good about yourself
4. Feeling like you belong
5. Having a supportive family
6. Helping others or 'giving back'
7. Being able to solve problems and overcome challenges
8. Good communication with the people around you

First they came

It is not a very long bow to draw to get from ideation to book burning. Please do all you can, where you are, with what you have to build a more resilient democracy and stave off the book burning.

When I was a teen I learnt Pastor Martin Niemoller's mantra and it still serves me well.

First they came for the Communists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me

And there was no one left

To speak out for me