After

This week I happened on a NYTime story about an amateur photographer in Paris. Raoul Minot, was an employee of Le Printemps in Paris, and an amateur whose resistance to Nazi Occupation of France took the form of documenting 1940s Paris. M. Minot made thousands of photographs, often adding commentary or explanation, knowing that making photographs of life in Paris was, per the Occupation, forbidden. Because he realized the dangerousness of such an activity - his Brownie camera was often hidden in his coat - he himself remained a mystery, developing film, secretively, in the darkroom of the department store where he worked and passing prints to friends and colleagues in secret. He was anonymous until recently.

Eventually, Minot was reported, and deported to a Buchenwald Concentration Camp. He died as a result of his treatment in that Camp, shortly after being liberated by American troops.

Resistance, such as that told through the story of M. Minot and his photography, is at once heroic and inspiring. But for most of us, the act of resisting will not be recorded in history books.

The election is done, and peaceful citizens abide by that. I disagree with the results, and feel dread and anxiety of what is ahead. Harm will be caused to people I know and love. That is unmistakable.

So I must be a resistor too. If I am to be true to my beliefs and accountable to myself, when asked what I did during this time of upheaval, how will I answer?

I think of this powerful quote as I write:

Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. – John Wooden

The power center of our country has changed. But I have not. So with John Wooden's quote in mind, this is where I start.