Fiddling while the world burns

At the small park just outside our apartment building, the snow lay in a pristine, unbroken blanket this morning. A neighbor's Husky bounced giddily out of the building entrance for his morning walk, elated at the prospect of a great romp in the cold, at last.

We don't actually get this much snow very often. But a steady stream of feathery, frozen flakes began falling steadily on Friday and continued off and on all weekend. By the time I went out on Monday, everything was again coated several inches deep in winter white.

I was out earlier than usual to walk with my son, who is starting his 9th grade Betriebspraktikum (a student internship) at a local business. Even though he'd been there before, and planned his own morning commute by streetcar, I went along to make sure he got off on the right foot the first day.

"Remember to use 'Sie' with all adults unless they tell you otherwise," I remind him. He knows.

"Be sure to ask if you don't understand something," I continue. He will.

"Work hard! And come home right after, because you still need to work on the math study guide before dinner." Silence.

We reach the building and I can't think of anything else. So he goes ahead of me into the offices to start his day.

I make the U-turn home lost in my own thoughts. To me, the winter weather is beautiful and calming. But I am going home to a warm apartment.

On the other side of the city, almost 65,000 people are without power and will be for most of this week. Emergency shelters are full. The city is offering assistance to put people up in hotels. Local restaurants and churches are cooking up hot meals.

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A letter from claiming to be from the Vulkangruppe claimed responsibility for the for setting the fire to a transmission trunk line in west Berlin - a move designed to "cut the juice to the ruling class," it said. In this case it is thousands of apartment buildings, schools and kitas, left with no heat or hot water during one of the coldest weeks of the year.

The same group is suspected of a similar arson in September - also of power cables - that took out electricity to an estimated 30,000 residents on the east side of the city for 60 hours.

Rumors abound that Russian agents are actually behind the fires, part of the "hybrid war" that the country has been conducting against the EU since 2014.

No one claiming to be a member of a Vulkangruppe - a term used in letters claiming responsibility for a number of different acts of sabotage across Germany - has ever been identified, let alone arrested. And the incidents don't appear to have a clear political aim beyond destabilizing the population.

German security agencies have identified large-scale Russian sabotage and disinformation campaigns before. And there have been credible allegations that the terror attack in Mannheim in 2024 may have had Russian involvement.

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And, then came the events of last Saturday. And now, apparently a new world order - the Donroe Doctrine - an evil alternate-universe SNL skit come to life.

In short, it holds: "The Western hemisphere is ours, and what we want of it, we will take."

I still can't quite believe it.

Even though no actions by the Trump administration should shock anyone at this point. And, as I wrote before, I knew from past experience that no matter how bad I was worried his second term would be - it was going to be worse.

European leaders had been openly worried about managing the war in Ukraine without U.S. assistance - privately I am sure they were wondering whether the U.S. had, in fact, switched sides.

Now they must contend with a openly hostile United States threatening the territory of fellow NATO member Denmark.

People I know in Berlin joke about what they would do in the event of Russian invasion here. No one is mentioning the elephant in the room.

We're already occupied - just no one wants to admit that allies have become opponents. I fervently hope that leaders in Europe are talking about this behind the scenes, at least.

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So, what to do?

I keep on, keeping on.

That is the main thing I learned from COVID-19.

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Even when the world as you knew it is no more, you keep moving forward.

When you can't move forward, you move sideways, make another plan. Take it day by day. As I wrote back in 2020:

When I start hyperventilating while reading the morning news, I try to stop and think about all the people throughout history who have had to go through so much worse.

...

A Facebook friend shared a post from someone's grandmother who had lived through war and famine. She said that in order to get through hard times to not think about what might happen, to not worry about next month or next year, but to take it day by day and focus on the small steps - cook the food, bake the bread, take care of your family. Eventually, by putting together all the small steps, they turn into big steps, and you will have gotten through it.

Since we have moved to Germany, my personal motto - my mantra - has become "just keep swimming."

Schools are full and your kid is stuck on a waiting list? (Just keep swimming ... and doing Outschool) Pediatricians not taking new patients, your kid has the flu, and the emergency clinic nurse doesn't speak English? (Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming - while speaking German, badly...)

Your now grown kid is starting college; younger one in high school - but AI might replace everyone's jobs? (You guessed, switch to the backstroke and keep. swimming.)

Yes, the world they are entering is beset with serious threats. We may be facing more global conflicts and disasters - of both the natural and manmade variety. Many people, I fear, will not survive this age. We may not. But the only way forward is through.

So, I cook the food, I bake the bread, I harp on my son's math homework and his manners. I help my daughter fill out college applications and register for her German B2 test.

I try to tackle the things I can change, and not worry about the things I can't. I take the small steps, and hope they lead to bigger steps, that lead to the end of this evil time.

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