THE GRAND PAUSE

As the events of COVID-19 unfold around us, many of us at the Wisconsin Association for Talented and Gifted are undoubtedly sharing many of the same emotions as those of you at home. We are worried for the health of our friends and family; we are devastated by the news from our cities, country, and other corners of our world. We may feel anxious about our jobs or financial health, or worried about the health and safety and livelihoods of others. We may be grieving the way things were, and are feeling what the Germans refer to as “Weltschmerz,” or the pain of the world. 

Those of us who are educators are missing our students deeply, and are hoping and praying that they are safe and secure. We are doing our best to meet their learning needs and their social and emotional needs while we also attend to the needs of ourselves and our own families. We are adjusting to this enormous disruption of school as we once knew it; we are innovating daily, and many of us are admittedly overwhelmed. We are, however, most thankful for those of you who are parents and guardians and are carrying extra loads -- tending to your own jobs (or unemployment) and mental health, the daily needs of your family, and assuming the new (and sometimes scary) role as teacher/mom or teacher/dad. We see daily evidence of families figuring out ways to make this all work -- with grace, creativity, and humor. 

Finally, there are our children, and our students -- they are lively, curious, thoughtful, insightful, scared, questioning, trying, joyful, confused. We are all trying to find the words and actions which balance their concerns with their need for hope and normalcy. And though there are many encouraging signs of hope, the resolution to this crisis is not clear or immediate. It is as though we are suspended in a huge moment of pause, grand pause. 

If you are a musician, you may be familiar with the term Grand Pause, or G.P., or caesura, sometimes known as “railroad tracks,” or “tram tracks,” designated by two slash marks, like this: //. When these are indicated in a musical score, the sound stops, and there is time for echo, absorption of sound and emotion, reflection, and anticipation of the resumption of the music. There is often curiosity and wonder during this repose; there is usually a sense of impending change.

It seems possible that we are in a time of Grand Pause right now. Undoubtedly, things will never be the same, but they might become even better than they were. We might become better parents, neighbors, friends, citizens. So many of us are using this Grand Pause to reimagine ourselves, and to transcend ourselves. We read daily about ingenious ways that people are coping and thriving. We see numerous testimonies to the grace, and the compassion, and the creativity of people. We see communities banding together, celebrating and thanking health care professionals. We see food banks asking for and receiving tremendously generous donations. We see neighbors anonymously leaving gift certificates for ice cream, or groceries or wine or masks, or pictures on others’ doorsteps. We see people sharing food. We see nursing home workers dressing up in costume to entertain their residents. We see teachers caravaning through school neighborhoods, waving to their beloved students. We see countries offering donations of money and supplies to each other. We see international scientists and medical professionals working tirelessly together. We see children offering hearts and pictures and words of comfort and chalk drawings on sidewalks. We are, indubitably seeing better versions of ourselves emerge, and have time to evaluate the meaning of this metamorphosis during this Grand Pause. 

Inevitably, this Grand Pause moment will be over, and our lives will move on, and the music of life will begin again in earnest. However, the burning questions will remain -- what do we want to carry forward with us? What really are the most important things in life? Can we sustain the lessons that we have learned? Will we emerge from all of this as more compassionate, more wise, more selfless? Our children will undoubtedly be watching, just as they have been all along. The moments of the Grand Pause should give them hope; the moments of the Grand Pause should give ALL of us hope. 

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