Newminimalists live in the present.
It is easy to think of human history as a cycle of the past, present, future [see photo]. And a solid case can be made that humans simply recycle the past, into the present, and onto the future.
Over the past six months here in Prague we have lived through a gradual shutdown of the local economy and imposition of some new health regulations. However. Yesterday, 20th August 2020, as I strolled aimlessly around the city there were many positive signs that life is slowly getting back to what we might think of as normal. Of course our definition of normal is based on what we experienced in our recent past.
The missing element from normal was the excitement and energy of the tourists. The tourists are not here and yet this is the peak of the tourist season. And. Tourism is a key element in past GDP accounts. So the present is clearly detached from the recent past. The present is "swinging in the breeze" as the Coronavirus pandemic keeps some national borders closed and the overhang of a long economic pause comes to an end. Thus the normal cycle of life in Prague is broken.
Clearly the future for Prague is yet to be defined. Over the long history of this place there have been many times when the present was left swinging in the breeze. The communists, backed by the might of the USSR, came in force in 1968 and only went home after the Czech people rose up in what has been dubbed The Velvet Revolution of 1989. I first came to visit Prague in 1993 and back then it reminded me of what I had seen while in the USSR back in 1989. Prague was a dark and dank place and yet the people were full of spirit and hope that a better future lay directly ahead of them. That future is now but so much has changed while so much has stayed the same. Indeed what stayed the same is what tourist normally flock to this city to soak up and marvel at as they walk the cobble stone streets and delight in seeing a well preserved past inside a modern setting.
Yesterday, on a perfect sun-filled day, I saw only the present and it was reflected back at me through the body language of the Czech people I passed on the streets and inside the modern shopping malls. The body language I saw was head down with limited eye contact; and yet, behind those eyes was glint of relief.
It is that "sense of relief" the spark the Czech people need to shape a unique normal for their nation?
Richard.
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