09.12.2022

Chairs

By Bartolomeo Gelpi

Extra time in a world cup game is a kind of surreal space. 0:0 in regular time becomes 3:2, or something like that. We scored our goal at the very end of the first half. Joy and a little (little!) relief. They scored at the end (very end) of the 2nd half. We all saw their morale increase for the penalty shootout. And then, our first kick was saved… as for the rest, we all know how the story ends.

Collective sadness may manifest itself through individual forms. Hands on head, cursing, crying, people comforting each other… As the movement to leave the auditorium started, I looked around. I saw someone carrying their chair to the piles alongside the wall. I decided to carry mine as well and noticed that several people were doing the same, carrying one, two, or even three chairs at a time. A silent movement gained form, filling the space with sad faces. After placing our chairs together, each person would go back to collect some others. Silence prevailed.

Collective comforting may manifest itself through collective forms. Engaging in that movement was somehow mitigating my sadness. And I am sure everyone shared the same feeling. The beautiful thing is that no one was asked to do so, it simply started with someone here, someone there, and all of a sudden we were all engaged in putting the space we once shared back together.

More and more I am looking for a shape that represents the various disciplines as organized in a school. For now, I stick with the triangle. Imagine various different triangles, but all starting from the same line segment as a base. Each triangle, one discipline: the Portuguese triangle, the Geography triangle, the Mathematics triangle… Those that overlap the most are the disciplines within the same area of knowledge. Their non-overlapping ends, the specificities of each discipline. Now, when it comes to a school, what all these triangles have in common, and which all the disciplines share, are their values.

There was dignity in the way we mitigated our sadness. In how we took care of our common space, together, in silence and sadness. It would have been so beautiful to see Brazil heading to the quarterfinals on that last day of classes. But then, one thing is sure. I really don’t know whether I would remember this match years from now. But I would certainly remember how we supported each other by piling up those chairs. Curiously, chairs that supported us in motion, while they were being carried by us. Perhaps to maintain the lyricism of several bodies in motion after a match. Together, sad, and in silence, we took care of what had to be taken care of.