Coming to Terms with the Present
At lunch I walked to the used bookstore and talked to the owner, an wonderful old guy with white hair. Knows everything about local politics, local lore, etc.
On the counter was a copy of Mein Kampf, and I hovered my hand over it and asked, "What is this, a conversation starter?" He laughed, his daughter laughed, we all laughed for a bit. Then there was this kind of sad silence, for a beat, and then a sigh. A couple of sighs. "Well, it's good to laugh," someone said.
I found some texts in the back I was wanting to pick up—an old copy of The Tin Drum, Badiou's Ethics (more on that later!).
But that sigh… Günter Grass is somewhat affiliated with this movement or concept in Germany called Vergangenheitsbewältigung—a coming to terms with your past.
I think the sighs today was some sort of coming to terms with the present.