When Wine Calmed Nerves in a Time of Grave Danger [92]
A Sip of WineSpirit #92
With thanks to Elsebeth
A member of the Napa Valley Tour Guide Guild shared a memory of when wine helped calm frightened people during a frightening time. She grew up in Denmark during World War II and recalled the day it was announced that all Danish Jews were to turn themselves in to the Nazi authorities. Her family was among many Danes who united in doing what they could to rescue Jewish neighbors. They went into the streets to invite any Jews they could find to surreptitiously come home with them.
As a number of people gathered under her family's roof, the tension in the room was palpable, with an air of unspeakable danger. Her mother, sizing up the overcrowded house, responded: "I'll just add a little more water to the soup!" The assembled "guests" gathered around the relatively undersized table for dinner in an atmosphere heavy with fear and foreboding.
The mood only changed markedly for the better when her mother opened some of their finest wine and "formally" welcomed the guests. She never forgot how the weight was lifted, as people smiled for the first time, even laughed in exchanging toasts, clinking glasses, and uttering hopes that this harrowing time would soon pass.
After the opening of that special wine, the evening took on an air of calm, even a measure of happiness. As it turns out, that bottle would contain a lifetime memory of a historically horrible circumstance transformed into a hope that all was not lost; it served as a symbol that there were yet good people in this world with whom to harvest good times.
A story such as this can be a reminder to hold on to as much as you can of good moments and tidings, and wellbeing. It’s also nice to be reminded that, with each other’s help, we have ways of “coping” even under the worst of conditions.
Questions to consider and comment upon:
With thanks to Elsebeth
A member of the Napa Valley Tour Guide Guild shared a memory of when wine helped calm frightened people during a frightening time. She grew up in Denmark during World War II and recalled the day it was announced that all Danish Jews were to turn themselves in to the Nazi authorities. Her family was among many Danes who united in doing what they could to rescue Jewish neighbors. They went into the streets to invite any Jews they could find to surreptitiously come home with them.
As a number of people gathered under her family's roof, the tension in the room was palpable, with an air of unspeakable danger. Her mother, sizing up the overcrowded house, responded: "I'll just add a little more water to the soup!" The assembled "guests" gathered around the relatively undersized table for dinner in an atmosphere heavy with fear and foreboding.
The mood only changed markedly for the better when her mother opened some of their finest wine and "formally" welcomed the guests. She never forgot how the weight was lifted, as people smiled for the first time, even laughed in exchanging toasts, clinking glasses, and uttering hopes that this harrowing time would soon pass.
After the opening of that special wine, the evening took on an air of calm, even a measure of happiness. As it turns out, that bottle would contain a lifetime memory of a historically horrible circumstance transformed into a hope that all was not lost; it served as a symbol that there were yet good people in this world with whom to harvest good times.
A story such as this can be a reminder to hold on to as much as you can of good moments and tidings, and wellbeing. It’s also nice to be reminded that, with each other’s help, we have ways of “coping” even under the worst of conditions.
Questions to consider and comment upon:
- What factors contributed to everyone lightening up at that Danish dinner table?
- What symbol(s) can you think of that reminds you of a significant, possibly life transforming, time in your past?
- What memory do you have of a special wine that energized a room?
posted by David White, Executive Director at 10:22 AM
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