To Be or Not To Be...Hopeful?

It's been over a month since my last post. We've been living Groundhog Day since then. Nothing new to report. We are surviving - not thriving...

Or are we?

I teach senior English and I am taking my students through a journey of sorts while reading Shakespeare's Hamlet. It is not an easy piece for students, especially in a distanced learning environment where discussion is challenging, and motivation is in short supply. So, it was with great trepidation that I approached the teaching of Act 3.1 and perhaps the most famous speech ever written. It starts like this "To be or not to be, that is the question:" Maybe you've heard of it (hahaha).

We read through it, and then I explained that this speech was beyond a simple consideration of suicide. It is about the point/pointlessness of life. Hamlet is questioning the very value of humanity. He is asking Why live, if living is meaningless? if it lacks purpose? grace? authentic being?

Kinda deep. And I was nervous to bring up these questions with these young people who have many more questions about the meaning of life in the time of Covid-19 than my students of the past. But I couldn't very well skip it, now could I?

So we unpacked it. Explored existentialism and the feeling of anxiety as proof of authentic self. Then I asked them to write about it, and here's what one wrote:

"The effects of COVID-19 have taken the meaning from many people’s lives. Graduation dates are uncertain. My senior show may never happen. All that’s left is emptiness and insecurity which will pass as circumstances change. Yet, time cannot go backwards and so the world will never truly be what it was before. This considered, we, like Hamlet, must create meaning by the actions we can take, and our thoughts, even when they are anxious. We need to make our purpose simply to exist."

Hamlet asks "For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,/..Who would fardels bear,/..."

I have an answer: my students, because despite graduation being deferred, uni being uncertain, and death outside their door, they chug on. So, take solace in that. Be comforted that young people are creating meaning out of chaos - they always have.  

So cheers to my students who really 'get it'. This is the story of their generation: That they need, and we need to create meaning through our actions and thoughts. 

What meaning will you create?