THE BEAST AND BEAUTY
/SOMETHING GOOD WAS HAPPENING.
Then, there was an interruption, and it stopped.
A really interesting conversation was going on.
A louder, more agressive voice entered the room and it stopped.
A group of kids was having big fun making up a game of make-believe,
Until someone carrying some weight of authority said, “You’re doing it wrong.” It stopped.
I remember it well, a jazz band rehersal, the director was called out for an important phone call. He looked to the first trombone player. “Mr. Vernon. Take over.” Mr. Vernon was a high school kid like the rest of us but with a maturity and discipline that earned him a high level of regard and respect. He did take over. He lead one of the most influential sessions of jazz band I can ever remember and we never played a note.
When the director returned, he said, “Mr. Vernon, I thought I could count on you. I hand you the baton and you do nothing,” a presumption based on the fact that he couldn’t hear us playing from his office. I’m pretty sure though when he started us “from the top” after returning to the rehersal, he heard a quality of sound from us that he hadn’t heard before.
Sometimes things happen quietly, creatively, beautifully, but they get covered up by the loudest, brashest, heaviest presence.
I work for a humble CEO. I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but it’s true. He encourages leadership development. He’s not afraid to delegate even important leadership to others. Still; if a meeting is going on and there is good discussion with involvement from most everyone in the group, as soon as he walks in the room, it slows if not stops. It’s not because he’s overbearing or authoritarian. It just comes with the position. That’s just the way it is sometimes.
Other times though, people and ideas and creative processes and even humanity gets pushed to the margins by the loud, the arrogant, the jerk, the bully. And, the bully isn’t always a person.
In the spirit of If You Have Something To Say; Say It, for this little essay, I’m calling out a few bullies.
The first is politics. Don’t worry I’m not going to pick on your favorite candidate or politician. I’m talking about Politics en masse as the whole beast. There are so many wonderful things happening in our world right now—people are making a difference in wonderful ways, some are not seeking to alienate others, some are doing unto others as they would have others do to them. Scientists are working at an amazing pace to solve problems. Artists of all sorts are contributing in new ways. For example, here’s a link to a video of Bill Frisell (my favorite jazz guitarist) and his trio playing one of my favorite songs* on the streets of Brooklyn.
People are still trying, hanging in there, teaching and parenting and giving care, finding hope and being human—that’s what human beings do. But so much of it just STOPS; because the bully has entered the room, sucking all the air and energy and life out of it. Why have we let Politics get so big and slimy and pervasive that it blinds and darkens until we don’t even see our real selves anymore. Maybe it’s that we have placed our hope in Politics and politicans. Politics and politicians can not Make America Great Again—not him, not any of them. Politics can’t even make democracy great. It is a necessary evil. It cannot do what only SERVICE can do.
While I’m rolling, I’m calling out fundamentalist religion too as an out-sized force. For “christians” it’s almost as if Jesus never existed. It’s almost like he didn’t say, “If you’ve seen me you’ve seen the Father.” Because the Imago Dei has been distorted beyond recogntion.
Contrast the persona of those who loudly proclaim themselves to be the manifestation of “evangelicalism” by virture of their political alignment with this (Philippians 2:2-8 The Message):
Do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.
Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human!
Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion.
Religion can not do what only humble SERVICE can.
In case you’re wondering what happened under Mr. Vernon’s brief time with the baton as our classmate and leader that made it so effective, he started off with this, “Louis Armstrong said it best: “Jazz is music from the heart.” Then he said let’s talk about the contrasts between how we feel when we play jazz, when we’re with the entire band, marching in a parade, or when we’re playing the fight song just before the kick off a big game, or when we’re playing in the orchestra. If we approach all music the same, we’re doing it wrong. He was right. It changed the direction of that rehersal and made us a better jazz band.
Our director was a fine musician and educator. His style would have never allowed 15 minutes of a rehersal to be devoted to discussing how it feels to play music from the heart.
What if we could do something—not from political affiliation, religious dogma, suspicion of others, conspiracies, mistrust and hate, but from the heart? It’s happening you know!? We just can’t see it or hear or feel it because of; well, you know.
In My Life
The Beatles
There are places I'll remember
All my life, though some have changed
Some forever, not for better
Some have gone, and some remain
All these places had their moments
With lovers and friends,
I still can recall
Some are dead, and some are living
In my life, I've loved them all
But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life, I'll love you more
Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I'll love you more
In my life I'll love you more