Wachet auf ! Ruft uns die stimme ! (Awake, the voice is calling us !)
In 1599, Lutheran pastor and hymn writer Philipp Nicolai published his musical offering Wachet auf as an expression of his compassion for others afflicted by the plague that hit his town Unna, Germany the year before.
There are many other translations adapted from the opening line of this hymn, such as “Sleepers Awake”, the title adapted for the cantata by J.S. Bach written in 1731.
During this fearful time, Nicolai was naturally, inspired by biblical references that were ready at hand for him. The second verse begins with Zion hearing the summons of the watchmen in the darkness, then she wakes and rises from her gloom! Nicolai also was stirred to write this hymn in response to the death of a young former pupil of his, Count Wilhelm Ernst. As the story goes, as a tribute he hid the initials of the fifteen-year-old count in the first letter of each verse.
Whatever his various motivations and meditative thoughts were, and whatever contentious religious encounters he faced in his time, at the root of it was his call for compassion. Perhaps appropriately today, we can take new meaning from Philipp Nicolai’s 16th century herald to Wachet auf. On so many levels no doubt during this 21st century global pandemic, the voice is calling us to rethink and remake a society, valuing careers in an economy based on compassion.
For one example, picking up from my post from last week, the long-term care system across Canada and indeed several other countries had its many failings, existent for too long, horribly exposed to us all – underfunding, cost cutting, low paid and under-appreciated workers, and while we’re at it, outdated facility design and operational models and yes – criminal elder abuse.
The loud call “Sleepers Awake” clatters in our ears. It’s time. Significant change required.
This weekend on CBC Cross Country Checkup, the radio call-in was titled Are seniors safe in Canada’s long-term care homes? One of the guests on this topic was Laura Tamblyn Watts, CEO of CanAge,a national non-profit advocacy organization with its mission to advance the rights and well-being of all Canadians as we age, which implies to me – all of us who will one day be those so called seniors.
If you listen clearly to Tamblyn Watts, of all that she said about the need for a “solid think” and a call for “national strategy” – it is not merely about a strategy for institutional long-term care facilities. She said it is for the whole care system, “a continuum from home care to hospice care…a health and housing strategy.” Yet how asleep have we been, what with a National Seniors Council in place since 2007 in Canada?
As Laura Tamblyn Watts calls for our Wachet auf moment, where national and provincial governments work together, we should recognize we already have the platforms to begin discussion and take action from groups such as hers, CanAge, and the National Institute on Ageing (NIA). The NIA has laid groundwork on this through the The Four Pillars Supporting a National Seniors Strategy and their recent 2019 reports – Enabling the Future Provision of Long-Term Care in Canada & The Future Co$t of Long-Term Care in Canada.
While we are still at the front end, living through this 2020 global pandemic, I am ready to contribute when the time comes to the authentic fully participatory inter-generational dialogue, for us to get going on creating substantive change to our social economic system for that new continuum of care. And it is not only the long-term care component but also all other areas of care, from mental health to homelessness that needs to be considered.
We will need to understand how much we will truly accept the shift required in cost and investment, the shift in value for care related careers and so much more on a macro level. This also means knowing the power of our vote and trust in government and community leaders who will help take us to that better place, which will not be overnight.
As Theodore Roszak futuristically describes in his 2001 book, Longevity Revolution, are we now at the time when what he calls “caregiver politics” is the big choice? If so, do we know how to articulate how we want this to be? Ruft uns die stimme! (the voice is calling us !)