When we lose the greats

Lee Maracle (1950-2021)

Marie-Claire Blais (1939-2021)

bell hooks (1952-2021)

Joan Didion (1934-2021)

Candy Palmater (1968-2021)

Archbishop Desmond Tutu (1931-2021)

When we lose the greats, it is as if the earth stops turning, for a fraction of a second, and exhales. Be they old or young, we think: It's too soon.

When we lose the greats, we worry and wonder how to move forward. Who will comfort us, who will teach us, who will help us navigate these confusing times? In our grief it is difficult to contemplate that others may follow. 

The world has lost 6 more greats in these fading days of 2021, as though the year's losses -- loss of stability, of time, of friends and family members to cancer, heart attack, covid, steely old age -- weren't bad enough.

Perhaps our planet thought that it could trade away its dread of the new year to come; as though releasing them to the universe might also release its own fear, or maybe even motivate its citizens -- us -- to alter our destructive ways and pay attention for a change. A grand bargain for peace, justice, climate action.

How could anyone possibly replace them? They whose words kept us afloat in dangerous waters, through times of conflict and grief, in search of truth, in hope of reconciliation:

"Even the waves of the sea tell a story that deserves to be read. The stories that really need to be told are those that shake the very soul of you... I prepare to be shaken." Lee Maracle, Celia's Song, 2014.

"Tout est immortelle et rien ne sera oublié de ce qui fut." Marie Claire Blais, Les voyageurs sacrés, 1962.

"I choose to re-appropriate the term ‘feminism’, to focus on the fact that to be ‘feminist’ in any authentic sense of the term is to want for all people, female and male, liberation from sexist role patterns, domination, and oppression." bell hooks, Ain’t I A Woman: Black Women and Feminism, 1981.

"Life changes in the instant. The ordinary instant." Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking, 2005.

"The reality is that words do hurt. Which is why, as a society, we remove hurtful words from our vernacular as we evolve." Candy Palmater, in Chatelaine, 2017.

"We are fragile creatures, and it is from this weakness, not despite it, that we discover the possibility of true joy." Archbishop Desmond Tutu, The Book of Joy, 2016.

How fortunate are we to have shared time on this planet with these greats. May their memory be eternal, and may their words be their legacy and an inspiration to a new generation -- to all of us -- to be great. 

The Erotic Theodorakis

The Greek singer, Yiannis Parios, compiled the love songs of the legendary Mikis Theodorakis and the two sang together on a starry night at Lykavitos.

This was a soundtrack to my childhood. My Dad singing in the car, or in the basement with the men's barbershop choir he pulled together. Dancing with my friends and our parents late into the night at church community dances. Summer beach parties with my cousins in Greece. 

I'm reading more and more about Theodorakis, and listening to his music again, following his death at 96 on September 2. He was THE Greek composer of the past century. I'm old enough to know his music and to remember - to be stirred by the first note or two of a song and know in my heart the words and notes that follow - but young enough that I did not really know of his significant political impact during Greece's dark days of dictatorship. Imprisonment. Torture. Exile. I'm learning that he also collaborated with Pablo Neruda, whose life experience as a Chilean poet and political protagonist mirrored his own.

You've all heard his music, whether you are Greek or not. Think of Zorba's dance - those first 2 notes that summon you to dance, to put your arms on the shoulders of strangers next to you and to move to an ever faster rhythm until you collapse, breathless and laughing - and you'll go "Ohhhh, right. I do know that one."

If you have Greek blood running through your veins, then you know that his music is more than entertainment. It is the soundtrack of almost a century marked by conflict, occupation, poverty, political and economic extremes, perseverance. And one that is also based on the deepest passion and love - eros - for country and fellow travellers on this earth. 

Now, I get it. May he rest in harmony, his memory eternal.