Survival is insufficient
If I have a pandemic mantra, this is it:
“Survival is insufficient.”
I know the phrase from Emily St. John Mandel, who made it the slogan of the Traveling Symphony caravan in her post-apocalyptic novel, Station Eleven:
All three caravans of the Traveling Symphony are labeled as such, THE TRAVELING SYMPHONY lettered in white on both sides, but the lead caravan carries an additional line of text: Because survival is insufficient.
— Station Eleven
The novel and the Traveling Symphony allude to Shakespeare’s perseverance through the bubonic plague—and quote directly from Star Trek: Voyager:
COMMANDER CHAKOTAY: There's a difference between surviving and living. They'll survive in the Collective, but they won't really be alive. You know that better than any of us.
SEVEN OF NINE: There is no alternative.
CHAKOTAY: How long would they survive if the Doctor deactivated this interlink network you created?
SEVEN: A month at most.
CHAKOTAY: A month as an individual, or a lifetime as a drone. Which option would you choose?
SEVEN: Survival is insufficient.
—Star Trek: Voyager (S6:E2, “Survival Instinct”)
The Traveling Symphony is transcendent in its stubborn caretaking of the human spirit. Seven’s purpose is nothing less than liberation. And yet…
There’s a tension here, especially in the middle of a pandemic, in a country where public health is hamstrung by a confused, partisan, and privileged desire for “freedom.” If the goal is a meaningful life, then first we must be alive.
To seek vitality, we must reckon with fragility. I like how St. John Mandel puts this in the novel:
Survival might be insufficient, she’d told Dieter in late-night arguments, but on the other hand, so was Shakespeare.
— Station Eleven
We must hold two kinds of awareness, simultaneously.
We must hold survival in one hand and flourishing in the other.
We must hold them as we move through the pandemic.
As we welcome (and we become) refugees from wars and natural disasters.
As we labor for justice and equity.
As we hold elected officials accountable.
As we scroll through social media feeds.
As we embrace our children and elders.
As we love ourselves, too.
Now, and always.
Because survival is insufficient.
Seven of Nine, Star Trek Voyager.