Living *THROUGH* History

Cindy just wrote an essay titled: My Experience Living through History: War, Human Agency, and Non-Future. It gave me a deep opportunity to reflect myself:

What does it mean to live through history, and to become PART of history?

Cindy’s family in the relocation camp in the Philippines. Cindy is the child in her mother’s arms.

Some excerpts I liked from Cindy’s essay:

Yet, it was not until COVID-19 that I now know what it means to live through history. While this moment is not the same as war, I have become familiar with its symptoms and side effects. The loss of human agency in everyday action. The inability to fathom a future. The surrender to fated defeat and existential misery.

And:

What I want to know is what it means to move past history. How did my parents do it? How did they survive, support four kids with nothing, and create a life and new opportunities for their kids? I am searching for that boundless power, that hope to hold onto, that rational deployment of my skills and any tools I have access to. What do I do? I continue to minimize all inessential expenses and direct that money to support small businesses and other vulnerable populations. I continue to check in with my loved ones and to tell them how much I love and miss them. I continue to take care of my health. I continue to be grateful for my health and community. I continue to be strong and vulnerable with my students and colleagues. I continue to write and make sense of this world. I continue.

Living through history and being PART of history.

We will definitely think about society PRE-COVID and life POST-COVID. I know for myself, living THROUGH and currently with the COVID-crisis, I feel a deeper duty and sense of responsibility towards humanity. I feel it is my duty to motivate, inspire, and empower others– sharing thoughts on Stoicism and more.

LIFE CANNOT EXIST WITHOUT SUFFERING