Melodies and Song
Today, the temperature will rise to 62 and skies will be clear. The winds that whipped through southern California have left a different kind of mess, following the rain storms of two weeks ago. And who knows what will come next.
The last 24 hours have been filled with stories about guns, lost lives, and an unusually high number of deaths in the first month of 2023 in incidents where violence entered with the Year of the Rabbit. It was supposed to be a year of hope, peace, and gentle shifts. The energy however, has been quite the opposite. It's been jarring.
While the tragedies of the last 48 hours have drawn together the communities most deeply affected by the events being reported, the gatherings have been varied in how people have engaged. Some are holding vigils, some are having strategy sessions, others are keeping track of institutional accountability. It all has to happen and it all has to happen now. The activity is a strange, and familiar melody that can be heard especially when mass sacrifices take place.
The humming of activity is on many channels of social media, email traffic, and reports in daily news outlets. And sad to say - the intensity is growing. It will reach a crescendo and then return to a clear, constant tune where a kind of call and response will emerge: control guns (give us our right to bear arms), make information accessible in language (it is too complicated and expensive), track the need to attend to social isolation and mental health services (this is a responsibility that families should share with the government), keep tabs on access to public funds and resource distribution (we don't get our fair share, others take too much), don't go to places where people gather (danger awaits in stores, sports events, and even dance studios) - and it is the latter that is the saddest.
People need to stay connected, to be present with one another, to gather both virtually and in real time/space for reasons that have no purpose, other than to experience being together. This is what human beings do: live in community, engage with one another in ways that are sometimes confusing and most times comforting. It is in the gathering, connecting, sharing that can give meaning to life.
The song of life is shifting. A generation that rebuilt society after World War II, when massive exterminations took place; the Korean War, when a people were torn apart over fears of communism, the Vietnam War, when the clash between communism and capitalism intensified and damaged an entire generation. The bass line is war/conflict/violence. When the world hears only this part of the song, it is not hard to understand how incidents of random violence can happen.
Timing and rhythm are real. At times of peace, things feel slow and easy; in times of crisis, staccato and speedy. And there are movements in longer compositions, like life itself (think of chapters in an individual's life). Society is in a different movement now, one that is bridging into another part of the Song of Life. Right now, it feels sorrowful and intense. This will change. There is something of a background line of notes, suggesting a melody offering what the year had promised: hope and new opportunities that will give way to an auspicious and life affirming year. That part of the song is emerging.