In the Instagram video “Home alone with Daddy” we see 4-year-old Aaron jump out of the window of a Swiss chalet,
he jumps, in his orange ski-overall,
he jumps
like a falling angel
and falls into the snow surrounding the house
he disappears beneath the soft whiteness.
The Beastie Boys’ Sabotage soundtrack wakes childhood memories of racing, without considering if you are gonna fall, or crash against a stone, without thinking of the hurts and losses you may get.
On Instagram, Daddy, a Swiss photographer and filmmaker, responds with the notorious Swiss kindness to all of the 1,139 comments. The post creates a feeling of being free, happy and wild.
With over 86,000 views, the video has gone viral. We understand, people are tired of lockdown and the empire of Covid-19. They wanna break out of confinement and fears, of social isolation. The world is thirsty for culture in museums instead of Zoom, concerts in concert halls instead of YouTube, POETRY ON STAGE, real stages. Are tired of touching the screen instead of touch-my-body!
It started with Master KG’s Jerusalema, through which kids and adults, nurses and dancers grasped words, images and sounds of joy, which circulated like a wildfire on social media platforms. They danced to remember that life is joy, to find courage to keep on, to express resilience in a world contaminated by so many fears.
On day X, I woke up and thought: Out there in the Universe is someone who knows what I need. It does not really matter to me that I know the identity of this “someone”. That morning thought was more, a proof of my trust in life. It is also my trust in intuition rather than reason, when, currently, reason tells me that nothing moves, and nothing will move, until the end of lockdown.
Should I count the days? Noooo, I don’t! I resist counting. That is my poetic resistance to logic and calculations. Furthermore, who knows if at the end of this lockdown, we only are confronted with an extension, and more counting with an indefinite end? By the way, why don’t we give names to lockdowns like we do with hurricanes or storms? So, currently we are in February Blues Lockdown, or let’s call it Lucifer.
I decided to fight against the “if only the lockdown ends” because I hate feeling myself in a waiting-mood. It is the opposite of living fully. That morning, I put on my headphones, walked to the Lake (Zurich), with Hallelujah [by Pentatoix] in my ears.
I danced and sang wildly, freely and joyfully: Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Andrea is currently Director of inArtes, an arttherapy institute in Zurich. Email: info@andreagrieder.com
- The Mother of the Ocean – #Andrea - May 25, 2023
- Poetic Insights – #Andrea - October 5, 2022
- Lightful: A Poetry Performance– #Andrea - May 13, 2022
