HALLELUJAH
by
Barb Hagreen

Word: hallelujah
Question: How do you cope?

Sarah took a last look over her paper. She was gratified with the breadth of human reactions that the research revealed and felt sure that her prof would find it interesting.

The assignment had involved gathering anecdotal reactions to a particular questions – a different question for each student. Sarah’s question was ‘How do you cope?’ and she had heard many of the strategies that she had surmised she would hear about. There were the runners, the drinkers, the yoga enthusiasts, the iPod fanatics and the people who took prescription pills. Playing musical instruments was a common way to improve one’s mood and so was having sex. One person climbed, a few canoed or kayaked, some smoked dope, lots of people read books and a great many talked to friends or family. Some people had fallback strategies for those times when their friend wasn’t available or the river was frozen over. Actually, most of the people with an inclination to the physical had both summer and winter activities that they not only enjoyed for their own merit but which helped them get through the hard times in their lives. Some people admitted that they didn’t cope well at all, that they retreated from social contact, they spent money that they didn’t have, or that they got ornery with those whose support they depended upon.

Sarah had been genuinely surprised at the willingness of the many, many people who she had spoken with to share their very personal stories. What had delighted her though were the unexpected answers: one elderly lady had knitted her way through many sad times in a long life; a teenage girl gave pedicures to friends when feeling down; a heavy-duty mechanic took dancing lessons; a young fellow stood on his head; an advertising executive admitted that she wished it were always summer because nothing calmed her down like skinny-dipping; and Sarah’s favourite, the logger who told her that he loved the sound of the word ‘hallelujah’ so much that he would sing any song that included it, whether it be ‘Michael Row the Boat Ashore’, Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ or the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’.

She was seriously considering calling her paper ‘Hallelujah’.