A Word From David

It will be good to be back in your midst on Sunday! Last week, on May 4, we were in Richmond to host a house concert featuring our friend, David LaMotte. David was in town to present at the Sprunt Lectures at Union Presbyterian Seminary, which is less than a mile from our RVA home.

As he began, David noted that his standard response to “how are you doing” has changed over recent months. “Many ways,” is how he now responds.

That seems accurate. Most of us are feeling many ways these days.

I was thinking about that this week while reading yet another piece about the creeping authoritarianism we’re living through, and this was before the White House announced that they’d fired Dr. Carla Hayden, the head of my beloved’s agency. What’s happening in our country echoes the rise of fascism in Germany. It’s not identical, but, as they say, history may not repeat itself, but it rhymes.

In any case, I was thinking about the images most of us carry around in our heads of Germany in the 30s and 40s. Those images tend to be frozen in black and white, and give us a literally flat, two-dimensional vision of Germany in those days.

It’s hard to bring to mind visions of Alpine Roses or Edelweiss blooming while Hitler waged war, but even during his reign of terror, spring came every year. Flowers bloomed. People met and fell in love. Babies were born. Beautiful things happened even in the midst of brutality.

Beauty matters because it reminds us of why we resist the brutality. Love matters because it reminds us of why we resist bigotry. Joy matters because it reminds us that life is worth defending.

So last Sunday, while the the brutality of our times continued, some of us paused for a couple of hours of joy, laughter, beauty, and love. 

It happened to fall on May 4. Lots of folks celebrate that as Star Wars day – may the fourth be with you. Some call it Dave Brubek day for his lovely 5/4 compositions. For me and Cheryl, it will only ever be the day that we recall the shootings at our alma mater, Kent State. David played Neil Young’s Ohio, and our friend Scott captured it on video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biqP0CMW9QE