Land and peace
Returning home after a trying day, one evening in July 1942 in Amsterdam, a young Jewish woman wrote in her diary: “My red and yellow roses have all opened. While I was there in hell, they continued to bloom slowly. Many say to me: how can you still think of flowers? » And further: “They are no less real than all the distress I witness in a day. »
At a time when the shadow of war once again darkens our mornings, these lines from Etty Hillesum are a precious viaticum. They invite me to resist fear and discouragement through wonder. Yesterday as today, taking the time to contemplate a tree, a river or an insect is not fleeing the chaos of the world. It is drawing strength and courage from this beauty to be able to face it.
So, even in times of crisis, the preservation of “little birds” or “little flowers” (as I sometimes hear it, pronounced condescendingly) is no less legitimate than economic interests. In France, several legislative projects for administrative simplification risk giving priority to the latter, by weakening environmental regulations. While the law of the strongest is expanding from the United States, our capacity to marvel at earthly beauties is a springboard to defend peace and the law of the weak.
