hope in the arts

Last night thanks to The Tuckers I was able to see their daughter and my ex -student Kylee dance at the Kansas Dance Festival. Such acts of kindness are a true gift, and I am delighted to watch this young woman study to perfect her passion.

But the gift last night was more than that. It was a chance to sit and watch people do what they love and in dong so put the concerns of the world aside for a few hours. During the evening of dance, I was reminded of how the arts allow us to relax, reflect and rebuild the shattered moments of lives or worlds. I left the darkness in the theater with a new hope in my life. As long as  music, dance, writing,  painting and sculpture exist, man can express his hopes, fears, loves to others in a way does not harm others.

Yesterday's events have spawned thousands of media posts which range from " Let's kill them all" to please understand that this is not the entire Muslim community. Some of them horrify me as they spew hatred with no true knowledge of the events and so often these are  exhibit  not only poor wisdom they exhibit a lack of basic education. But to be honest  they are also written by literate well educated people, this is even scarier. Is hatred the new tenet of the world? I hope and to put it in their words , I pray this is not the new mantra.

War may be coming. The events point that way. Remember however that in every war our nation has been the one that was humane. We fought but we helped the victims as well. We ran prison  camps but we did not starve or torture the inmates. Think of the pictures from the wars with GI's  holding children, feeding people and showing that even when we must fight,  we try to remain human.

Nay sayers will point out the Napalm of Nam and the A bombs of WWII as harming innocents as well as enemies. I can not deny these things but we only won one of those conflicts.  Now there are politicians saying lets bomb them and ignore the civilian casualties, and others who say let's kill all the gays, and still others who say rape is the victim's fault. Extreme positions on all fronts and these are statements that cause people to be come radicals because they fell marginalized.

Hungry people are won often by the hand that feeds them. Hitler came to power in Germany because he gave the people a scapegoat to focus on while he put his personal agenda of hate into power. The leninists helped lead the revolt in Russia because the peasants were hungry for choice in their lives. I fear that now  America  may be ripe for those who want their way to be the only way to use fear  to control reactions.

War is always a possible answer but other wars come from the scars left by the ones that came before. I am praying for a careful consideration of war ,and if it comes, that  those who lead us count the costs in lives  both military and civilian as they make battle plans. Humanity needs to be remembered, and hate must not lead.

So those dancers who gave me respite, to those artists who inspire me, to those writers who express the emotions of mankind and to the music that calms the beast, thank you for the gifts of passion and hope you give to us with every dance, sonata, poem or picture. To you who allow me to live with hope ,Thank you.