Bearing Witness
Dear ones,
This post was originally written & dedicated to the vast and diverse community of healthcare workers and healers, who come from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds and have been at the forefront of the human experience of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts. Experiencing and responding to this pandemic from multiple positions and relational roles – as individuals, partners, family members, parents, community members, students, professionals, employees, supervisors, administrators – took a particular toll on folx working in medical, mental health and complementary care communities, and the following resources are aimed at attending to these unique impacts, though they also contain wisdom that can benefit all of us!
Within all of the roles that we have occupied throughout the COVID pandemic, and in general throughout our lives, there is one critical position we each inhabit that may or may not be present in our awareness: that of witness.
I use the term “witness” to refer to someone who is present, aware, noticing and paying attention to what is happening in a given moment. Every day, we are witnessing the impact of numerous situations and circumstances on our own minds and bodies; our families and loved ones; our colleagues and staff; our clients, patients and consumers; our local and national communities; the ethnic and cultural groups we belong to; and the world at large. In our globalized world, this can be complicated by the physical distance between ourselves and those to whom we are bearing witness, and feelings of helplessness about how we can respond.
In her work with professionals (including healthcare workers) who find themselves as witnesses to conflict, violence, trauma or disaster, Kaethe Weingarten, PhD has identified four “witness positions” and has described the characteristics of each position and the particular liabilities or risks associated with each.
Position 4 – aware and disempowered – is the most distressing position. It may also be the most common for many of us in the midst of all that is happening in the world – we may not be directly involved, but are fully aware of what is happening, and are continually bearing witness to the impacts and effects on those we care about/for – and those we may never meet.
I had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Weingarten about this at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and one of the strongest take-aways was this comment:
“ALWAYS the solution is to figure out “what can I do?” so we can begin to move from disempowered witnessing toward empowered action – both individually and collectively.”
Committed and meaningful action is one of the most protective practices we can engage in as witnesses – and no action is too small, as long as it is aligned with our values and feels responsive to the situation.
Although it may not always feel as such, all of us are already responding in meaningful ways, and taking meaningful action based on our values, every day. We are providing care in the ways we can; we are teaching and learning and creating on the daily; we are supporting our colleagues and loved ones, often in new ways.
Does anything shift for you if you acknowledge and label each of the choices you make each day as meaningful, committed action in response to the collective crises we are facing as a world community?
Is there a certain limited list of what “meaningful” responses look like (i.e. being in a hospital caring for COVID patients)? Or might there be as many meaningful responses as there are people and hearts and minds who are bearing witness and doing whatever is possible for them to do?
Is it possible that bearing witness, in and of itself, is an active and meaningful response, even if there is nothing “more” that can be done?
Dr. Weingarten also noted that the risks of witnessing, particularly for those with strong tendencies toward empathy and social justice, can be significant, and offered a number of resources that can help us take care of ourselves as witnesses, including:
All of these resources and more can be found on her website for the Witness to Witness Program.
If you tend to struggle with feelings of helplessness or guilt, and not knowing what to do with the emotional challenges of bearing witness, you are not alone, and these struggles are connected to your values, commitments and compassion, not to any kind of failure on your part. So much of our day-to-day is uncharted territory, and there is no map of how to get through it. We are all doing the best we can, one day at a time… and that’s enough.
Being a witness is not easy; nor is it optional. But it is vital. Take some time today to acknowledge and appreciate the many ways you are bearing witness in this time, the efforts you are making to take care of yourselves in order to be able to do so… and the committed action you are taking every day.
Peace,
Glynn
