Ideals, hard work, community, love, music. Put ‘em together and whaddaya got? Well, something very good, that’s for sure. Something needed.
I had the privilege of participating in a new programme set up by the Shelter Valley Folk Festival to bring artists into schools in some of the smaller communities of Northumberland County, Ontario. I headed out to Campbellford, 2 hours North East of Toronto, and ended up in the generous hands of the hosts of the Shelter Valley Festival, who took me around, offered me an abundance of local treats, and shared their inspiring stories and sites. They illustrated a commitment to community and the work of providing more of the good stuff in life for all!
I visited two schools in the region, playing and chatting with kids in grades five to eight, many on the verge of entering their teens. These are people at the beginning of really seeing the world with critical faculties fully engaged. At Warkworth I sang the song “Apocalypse Lullaby”, which brought out some serious philosophical discussion. I had wanted to address the recent earthquake in Haiti, and to suggest that while the tragedy is massive, the coming together of people in a spirit of helping each other is beautiful and hopeful, that this type of love proliferation is a common occurrence when difficulty and hardship arises.
And so after the song, one of the kids asked me what I thought about the predictions associated with 2012. I was very grateful to have been asked that. People have been terrified of imminent end times for at least the last two thousand years. Cultivating fear has always been a tool used by those wanting power to control populations. But as far as I’m concerned, we’re entering a new era of unfolding love, compassion and broad understanding, and the more of us who facilitate this kind of awareness, the more resistant we can be to the destructive aspects of the society we live in.
I know how it feels to be a kid with annihilation on the brain. When I was a kid the common nightmare was the nuclear bomb. We were collectively scared, experiencing an undercurrent of despair and helplessness. The propaganda worked, and the feeling was awful. So when I saw an ad for the latest Hollywood flick on 2012 I got angry. Fear for profit. There it is again. Such huge efforts made to create this panic of end times. So manipulative.
And so I was not surprised to run into the deep concern of these kids. I started rambling some explanation of pre-Columbian prophetic interpretation, but ended up realizing my basic message was this: Look at where we are! Look around at how good it is! Enjoy this life, enjoy the love that people give you, love them back. No, I do not believe it’s the end of the world and I’m not going to spend my precious time here being afraid.
There were cheers and clapping, not least from the teachers who are undoubtedly faced with the need to dispel panic on a regular basis.
Times are intense. The violence of our culture is incredibly disturbing. But if something is to be cultivated, let it be that we are all capable of kindness, that we are all in a position to apply our incredible human capacities towards the good of all beings. It starts and it lives as a calm state of caring and enjoying and activating, within ourselves and within our evolving communities.
Much thanks to the Shelter Valley crew for their inspiring dedication to creating spaces in which to experience life in all its complexity and beauty. This is positively powerful work.
photo by Chris Oberacker-Lisenchuk