Sit back, enjoy the ride and join me for a few minutes in my time machine.
We are traveling back to August 1969 as flower children and we are all headed to the Woodstock Festival for some rock ‘n roll, man! Open your eyes and here we are shoulder to shoulder with HALF A MILLION people living together for parts of three days – makes my head spin. (Another million were forced to turn back because of traffic.) Yet, Time magazine called it “the greatest peaceful event in history.” No incidents of violence occurred at the Woodstock Festival. So here we are, in 1969, rockin’ out to Jimi, Janis and The Who. (I’m trying not to get claustrophobic!)
Not everything is flowers and fairy dust as we enter Woodstock-land, but there is peace and harmony – and music. “They had arrived. They had burst free of the confines of their civilization and were finally, miraculously, their own. The test they had unknowingly been waiting for was now. Nothing could control them – except themselves. Nothing could defeat them – except their failure. They assumed their covenant: come rain, come hunger, come thirst, come fatigue; come anything that might out of the hand of Nature – they would prove that the children of Aquarius were a nation. And rain did come, and cold, and hunger, and the rest.” And the result was that “half a million kids can get together and have three days of fun and music.” “It was not the result of their conscious efforts to be more than they really were…it was refusal to be less.” “Achingly beautiful human.” And on the third day, “the children of Aquarius, having proven something to the world, were now, with reluctance, on their way back to America.” {Quotes from the book, “Young Men With Unlimited Capital – The inside story of the legendary Woodstock Festival told by the two who paid for it.” GREAT HISTORICAL READ, BY THE WAY!}
Gather yourself together as we reluctantly place ourselves back in the time machine and fast forward to today – up until this very moment. Think about how many human beings we interacted with, made eye contact with or deliberately avoided in just the past 8 hours – individuals that breathe and share the same exact air that we do? Maybe we awkwardly interacted with the person behind or in front of us at Starbucks this morning? Maybe we complained? Maybe we avoided, at all costs, any interaction with the 15 people that were crammed in the elevator going up 20 floors with us? How many times did we actually smile and nod our head at someone crossing our path? Bottom line: I am just as guilty at not engaging and interacting.
But I know this for a fact about myself. Put me with people who share the same love of music as I do and I’ll dance in the aisles with everyone. I can wrap my arms around music and hug tight. And that’s where this entry is leading us. Each day, maybe we put a bit of music in our spirit, literally place a song in our soul that makes us smile, brings us a priceless memory, close the door behind us and enter the day with music that only we can hear. And then when we approach a stranger or a friend, the music will literally move us to engage – even for a moment.
Zenitude for today:
Each day, put a bit of music in our spirit. Literally place a song in our soul. Refuse to be nothing less than an achingly beautiful human being.
My music today included:
One Angel (by Stir – a band that no longer exists, but one of the best bands ever -- here' s a link.)
Bittersweet (by Big Head Todd and the Monsters)
Slow Ride (by Foghat)
To name a few…