A concert, that helped connected the members of the public, bringing hope, to the regions, hit hardest, by an earthquake, bringing people together, helping everybody connect with each other, translated…
On May fifth, the “Concert of 1,000 Violas”, I was nervous and anxious, worried that the outdoor event may be affected by the wind and the rain. Thankfully, that sunshine from early morning helped restored the confidence, and, the wind started blowing gently in the afternoons, as I’d gone from the sound control area to the handicrafts to upload the very last videos, I’d found there to be a lot of parents still, walking around before the show began, in the bookstands, and gotten involved in the activities, some kids were focused in cutting up the papers, reading aloud the illustrated books, and there were children, horse playing in the rehearsal area too.
The rehearsal of “Song of a Thousand Winds” “Giving You a Set of Wings” started playing, almost everybody stopped what s/he was doing, the originally laughing and playing children, turned their attention to the musicians, playing along, and the sounds of the various instruments, blended, and it’d made me cry, seeing how connected everybody and everything became.
Can’t imagine it, early in the evening, there was, that light drizzle, it wasn’t affecting the crowd, but, it was, lethal to the musical instruments; we’d not dared risk it, and my partners immediately gone to grab those over-sized umbrellas from the nearby shops, and, all the musicians, waiting for their turns on stage all went to duck and hide in the large tents, they were all, very stressed, worried that if the rain keeps on coming, they may not be able to, perform at all.
Gladly though, before the start of the show, the rain ceased, and after about an hour into the programs, in the process, I’d felt someone, pulling on my pant leg, it was, a young infant about a little over a year old, with his mom, holding his hands, as he practiced walking around. As I’d squatted down, wanted to talk with him, he’d shyly, hidden, behind his mother, then, looked at me from behind her, giggling, that cute look reminded me of an illustrated story of a mom who wrote about the major earthquake that happened on March 11th, “Because of the Smiles on My Baby’s Face”: “When I was happy, the baby smiles; when I’m sad, the baby smiles; when the clouds covered up the skies, my baby smiled. No matter what, no matter where, my child’s laughter sounded like the crystal clear drops of water, spread themselves all over the places.”
What spread all over the places, wasn’t just the laughter of that infant, along with the drizzling rain that came, toward the end when all the instruments joined in, moving all the musicians to the tent once again, and even so, the audience didn’t dissipate at all, they’d opened up the umbrellas, or allowed the drizzles to fall on them, stood close in proximity, listening to the musicians, or sang aloud with the music.
The way it all looked, made me moved even until the show was over, and I couldn’t help, but hugged everybody whom I knew there. As I’d gone home, I’d hugged onto Strong, seeing how he slept, peacefully in my arms, I’d still heard the laughter of the children, with the voices reading the books, along with the music in the background.
It’s a long road to recovery after the earthquakes, every hug, every smile, gives strength to the hearts. I hope, that this path will be shared, with more people in the future, becoming the supports for each other to lean onto, to build up that shelter of the spirits for all, and, even though there may be rain, wind, even storm, there’s still that light in the darkness, and let’s, walk toward the light, and start rebuilding our lives together.
And so, this is the aftermath of a disaster, you see all the members of the public band together, supporting each other in their hours of need, and that, is when the strength of the community showed, at the aftermath of a disaster, because people are realizing, that there’s, a lot of help in the rebuilding of their lives, and, people are more than likely to, put aside all of their differences, to work together, to rebuild their broken homes again!