"Easter Rest, Easter Silence or Easter Peace?", part 7 of the series "After The Pandemic. A Fictional Story" by Karin Sawetz
The Cytara-series ‘After The Pandemic. A Fictional Story’ goes on. The last story played during Christmas holidays. Now we are back in the house of grandmother Naomi who invited the family to an Easter brunch. Grandmother’s stories about the revolution after the pandemic are legendary and are lessons for her daughter Joyce and granddaughter Sarah how to observe the political system for implementing a ‘change’ like it became a popular practice among citizens in the years already before the pandemic. The wish for the reconstruction of political and economic systems had grown out from many seeds which were set over decades. Whether it’s racism respectively the inequality in society which became at last through the transparency of digital administration for everyone visual and was diagnosed as an old structural problem on it’s way to the future, or climate activism which led to the development of new political and economic strategies for the protection of the environment.
Naomi hurries for placing colorful painted eggs decoratively between the exotic plants of the garden of the glasshouse. Her daughter Joyce and granddaughter Sarah are observing the elderly woman's activity from the rattan seating group. Naomi kneels on the brown, juicy earth, beside her a wicker basket with eggs, she continues her story while half of her body vanishes for her guests behind the big leaves of a tree: "During the pandemic, people forgot many of their achievements in building a better society. They simply tried to survive. Open discourses or to be precise people who thought that freedom of speech is still legally protected were prosecuted. Open discourses became actions in silence. It was during Easter… "
“Ah, has it anything to do with the ominous ‘Easter Silence’? I've always speculated about the meaning behind the term. I heard it one or two times in the history lessons in school but I thought it was a measure by the government.” interrupts Sarah her grandmother while playing with her mother’s German shepherd named ‘Sweetie.’ “That’s right my dear,” Naomi stands up and takes a seat at a large wing chair with an embroidered backrest. She reminisces: “It was an idea by the government to name a hard lockdown with the German word ‘Osterruhe’ which can be translated as Easter Rest or Easter Calm and was sarcastically named by the people ‘Easter Silence’. People had the impression that the government wanted citizens to be silent and accept everything. Well, it had better be named ‘Easter Peace’."
Naomi underlines the last comment with a bitter note in her voice and a laugh. She enjoys her memory of the eruption of her beloved volcano ‘revolutio’. "Things happen often without warning, like a sudden outbreak of a volcano. In all the silence around them, people had time to reflect upon their situation, break out of the pandemic shock and remind strategies for implementing a ‘change’ before it was too late. All of their material goods and their own will would had been lost.”
The dog makes a jump like a sheep on the commando of Sarah. “Fine done, Sweetie.” “Why are you doing this, Sarah? Even Sweetie has a right to be treated with respect. This is my dog and I have to forbid you to make him look ridiculous!” Joyce takes the animal on the leash and commands him right beside her.
“Do you think that restricting the dog's movement with a leash is more respectful than letting him make sheep jumps?” Sarah counters, "Sweetie, the Easter sheep."
