The Ubiquity of Goodness, The Inevitability of...

We would like to think that at every patch of the human experience, where history has  a running tally sheet between good and evil, that it is not evenly split down the middle but rather lopsidedly in favor of goodness. Or, are we to believe in the pessimism that the ubiquity of goodness is always matched by the inevitability of what is bad?

We bring back Claire to share the letter she wrote to her dad before coming home for this Christmas.  We met her in, "Leap of Faith Into The Less Traveled Road", (August 23, 2023).  I introduced her story from when she started asking her dad questions when she was nine years old.  In her own quest at finding answers, and after a time thereafter, she changed her mind about what to major in college.  She at first considered majoring in history but before the summer ended after her senior year of high school, she opted to double-major in biology and chemistry instead. After which, her plan was to go on to pre med to pursue a medical degree.  

Her natural intelligence, coupled with a tirelessly inquisitive mind, gave her the strong paddle that made her academic pursuit more like going downstream rather than negotiating the opposing rapids of the onrushing river that is the first year of college.  Outside of the confines of the classrooms, the study halls and the dorm room desk, she did not abandon the pleadings of her probing mind to sometimes go beyond the textbooks and lectures. She kept up with what was going on in the world but she stayed away from  social media while she kept up with the news feed through her own personal filter. When she needed inspiration her go-to reference was the Bible her mom gave her before she left for college. 

This Christmas is her first time to be back home months away from her family.  Last Thanksgiving she and two of her classmates decided to stay on campus to do volunteer work at the local shelter for the homeless. The university acquiesced to the request of the Dean to allow the three students free meals at the faculty cafeteria throughout the week.  

Days before the Christmas holiday break,  Claire wrote to her dad.

Dearest Dad,

First, please hug Mom for me.  Second, thank you for the plane ticket.  I had actually saved  money for it from my part time job on campus; so,  I guess I have money now for Christmas gifts. But don't tell Sandra and Jim I got them something special. And I got you and Mom something too but don't expect much, okay? I know Mom will always say that the love of an obedient daughter is plenty enough, right? 

Why can't this letter wait till I get there?  Remember I used to ask you lots of questions when I was nine. Well, I have more. Back then I knew you were particularly surprised by the questions I asked. Now you have more time  to prepare. These are questions coming from your studious daughter who is well on her way to a 4.0 average this semester but don't be intimidated by that (😊). First of all, that is just my way of saying that your money is well spent. You know me. That's one of the ways of saying thank you (so much) and especially to Mom who worries a lot about how her loving daughter will handle life away from home. I hope 4.0 is reassurance enough for her not to worry.

The volunteer work my two classmates and I did at the homeless shelter on Thanksgiving week opened our eyes in very profound ways.  It is not easy to actually explain what the three of us felt, collectively. I will share mine. It is not just  that it touched me deeply but also that it evoked certain emotions which, naturally,  prompted me to ask some questions. 

I ask - all three of us actually asked in the same way - why I, my sister and brother, have the good fortune to have parents like you who have paved the way for us a better future while two young kids and their  mother at the shelter had so little to hope for.

The two children, ages 4 and 5, and their mom had been homeless the last two months, we found out. The mother told me that those  two months - nightmarish and incredibly painful  -  were a relief from the last five years or so of her eight years of marriage. How sad is that? Being homeless the last two months is a relief?

The children. They seemed to manage better than the adults. One afternoon, it was right after Thanksgiving lunch, I helped the two kids with the puzzle they were working on. They were happy, showing little care because, after all, there was a roomful of donated toys. I glanced at their mother who was watching nearby and I saw the furrowed brows, a face filled with despair and worry.  As she watched us, she smiled rarely. The seemingly forced smile would dissipate so quickly as if she did not want anyone to notice it.

Dad, why does something like this happen? Let me say this first. I saw so much good from everyone at the shelter - from those who run the place, the volunteers and from those who come by to donate clothes, baby and children supplies and non-perishable food items (meaning canned goods, mostly). But notably, it was the young children and how transparently innocent they were. There were not that many actually - there were just seven of them. We were told that on average, there are not that many children at any one time except during holidays like Thanksgiving.  

The shelter showed me what was good in people. Remember Dad, you said more than once that I always saw a lot of goodness everywhere, but was it because that was all I ever looked for? Was I really a Pollyanna the way my high school classmates described me? The volunteer work made me look closer to the outer peripheral edges of my view of the world to ask why society has made it necessary to have shelters like this. What could be so bad that makes people seek refuge at places like these. Then I wonder too how many are out there who are not able to find such a place; or worse, that there are those who know where to go but they simply can't leave the predicament they're in.  

First, my quantitative mind asks, "What is the ratio of good over bad in the world?" I presume that goodness must lopsidedly predominate what is bad. I have good reasons to say that Dad, because if that were not true, would we still have a civilization, such as what we have now? My biology professor, though,  once casually made a comment during one of her lectures, that luck and not a whole lot more is responsible for civilization. I hope to someday discuss that with her if I get the chance.

The weekend after Thanksgiving as we were wrapping up our volunteer work, I did manage to talk with the mother of the two children while the two kids were taking a nap. She said that she didn't want to stay at the shelter forever but she didn't know where to go. Her husband doesn't yet know where they are.  The shelter is very good at keeping all information about the residents confidential, even allowing them to use aliases. She can't contact her parents who are out of state because she knows that's where her husband was going to look first. Besides, her dad was not in good health and she wanted to avoid putting her mom through more stress. She confided to me, though not with much detail, that she suffered both from physical and emotional abuse and she is scared for the kids who are already suffering collateral damage.  She had no more tears to shed, she said, as she saw my eyes well up.  Then she stopped talking about the abuse, sparing me the details.  But she did bring up something that keeps bothering me to this day.

You know Dad, she must have been like me today when she was young.  She too believed in the goodness in people. She said that was what attracted her to her then boyfriend. They met at work and she thought he was perfect. They got married after a year of dating.   He became a monster, she said, after the birth of their second child. I was struck by what she later said.

She came from a devoutly religious family. Her husband was too. She abandoned her faith when her prayers were not answered, she said, after her husband became abusive and cruel to her the last five years of a once wonderful marriage. It was as if the devil just took over their marriage - her words. 

I was disheartened that I could not convince her to renew her faith in the Bible and the church. She questioned everything in the Bible, such as why as early as the third chapter in Genesis, the devil was already present to wreak havoc on the very first man and woman relationship by tempting Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. 

She then said, "I don't believe anymore in a God who allowed that to happen in the first place? Didn't God not have the choice to not allow the devil to do such a thing, knowing how vulnerable the first man and woman were? Am I and my children still paying for the so-called original sin to this day?  So, please spare me any more encouragement to seek spiritual help. But thank you for helping, especially with the kids. Do you see as I do that for everyone like you, the devil has a thousand?" All I could do, Dad, was to hug her.  Then she cried profusely.

I would like to talk about this when I get home. Now you know ahead of time what I was going to ask you. Don't worry.  I will not spoil Christmas for you and Mom. But I think I would like this to be part of our conversation these coming holidays. And I know too that you will tell me the allegorical purpose of some of the messages in the Bible.  I know that. I get that.

Now, please don't finish decorating the tree until I get there.  But I must warn you I have questions about that too.  The mother, for the sake of the two children, dreads this coming holiday.  She's conflicted, shaking her head, about the way  Christmas is celebrated by quoting to me, Jeremiah, 10: 3-4  (KJV)

3 For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.

4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.

What can I say? If that was a description in the Old Testament, then she is right about that practice predating the birth of Jesus by many centuries. She, and she's not alone with this because like many who subscribe to the idea about the unlikely origin of the Christmas tree with not a single reference of it in the New Testament, believes that this is another way people are deceived to believe in something that has no basis in what really happened a long time ago.

School stuff after Thanksgiving kept me busy but I promised to check on her and the children after the holidays. I would like to have some answers for her, if they are still there when I get back. 

I can't wait to come home to cry on mom's shoulders and listen to your wise counsel.

Kisses and hugs to you and Mom,

Claire

Let's hope Claire will get her answers and every reader gets his or her wish for a Wonderful Christmas and a New Year better than all the previous ones.

 

Music to Our Ears

Language and music.  Which came first? Both are obviously universal for humanity but a similar  question that attempts to define "which came first, the chicken or the egg", manages to intrude in conversation among those who care to engage in that kind of futile debate. I am just a kibitzer on the subject. However, I cannot resist the fascination with what it was like during the first moment when our ancestors realized they can modulate their vocal chords to produce sound in repeatable patterns to replace hand and bodily gestures to communicate with one another. I wasn't there to witness it but I can assume that was the beginning of language.  However, can we not also assume that perhaps our ancestral mothers, long before speech, may have hummed some soothing sounds, then a  tune even, to calm and reassure the  little creatures of their safety and comfort in the warmth and secure clutches of motherhood?

We can leave those speculations as they are. What is certain is that today we have language and music that make us distinctly human.  Naturalists and scientists will beg with exceptions, of course, because in their world songbirds and whales do sing and chimpanzees and gorillas can be taught sign language. Ornithologists claim that birds - crows, ravens, canaries and the common sparrows, etc. -  have regional or zonal dialects in how they caw, croak or tweet and sing.  Be that as it may, we know  not to expect any of those species to write a sonnet or compose a piano concerto. "That hurts", a bird might say, in whatever dialect it uses but speak it still can't.  "Double hurt"! Well, okay, let's leave the birds alone.

Now for the next question.  Is music (vocal and instrumental) the language of the soul? We don't know for sure where the expression came from or who actually said it first  but it may have originated from the time of Plato.  Or later, expressed as,

"Music is the language of the soul, the voice of the heart, and a message from eternity."        ---- Debasish Mridha

"Music, said Arnold Bennett, is “a language which the soul alone understands but which the soul can never translate.” It is, in Richter’s words “the poetry of the air.” Tolstoy called it “the shorthand of emotion.” Goethe said, “Religious worship cannot do without music. It is one of the foremost means to work upon man with an effect of marvel.” Words are the language of the mind. Music is the language of the soul.

Music, like language, evolved over centuries of human development. Today, generally speaking, music is hailed from two proponent camps: the classical buff and the fans of pop music. In between, the list may start from the time of the minstrels, liturgical and choral hymns, Gregorian chants, to spirituals, from opera to Broadway musical, from ragtime to rock 'n roll to Bluegrass to reggae and Rap music, romantic and pining songs and the often moping messages of country music and  several others.  In other words, we've enriched music and music enriched us.

Let us not forget music's presence even in times of battles - from the bugle call to charge or retreat; the legendary effect of bagpipes  on advancing British and Scottish troops, the sound of the bugle during reveille to wake the troops up, taps to mourn the dead, and, of course, national anthems that instill patriotism.

Not the least of music's power is its integral influence on dancing. From ballet to the tango and the waltz; from polka to Latin dances; from swing to jazz to rock 'n roll, various folk dances, etc.

This will not be a thesis on music because I cannot even hold a tune. If perfect pitch is analogous to the height of Mt. Everest, I put myself at the lowest flatlands at the foothills of the Himalayas. In high school a friend told me that I was out of tune even when I sneezed or cough; and he was a friend. That is why today, I relegate myself to tuning a table saw or a hand plane but I stay away from attempting to do the same with a piano or violin.  But I think I know and appreciate music.

We've all learned to appreciate music and it seems like our brains are hardwired for it; however, we're told by overly-funded researchers looking to spend grant money on anything, that other living creatures and certain plants have an "ear" for music too. They have us believe that classical music makes plants grow better and in experiments fishes were drawn to music. Some pet owners claim that their pets have developed an affinity to music. Anecdotally or by experiments, we are told that music does seem to have some kind of universal effects on creatures outside of our species. Suffice it to say that perhaps there could be some kernel of truth in there somewhere.

Back to the two camps comprised of classical and pop music, generally speaking, as the two largest groups.  Let's cut to the chase. Fans of pop music have this to say, "Why does classical music change moods so much and have so many boring parts"? On the other hand, classical buffs say, "Why does pop have to have a noisy rhythm section, and why is the beat always the same?" And, "It's too simplistic".  To which, Pop fans say about classical music, "It's too complicated". {From the book,  Classical Music: A New Way of Listening}.

At one time some centuries ago, classical music was cloaked in utmost snobbery. That was because only the rich, the elites of society, had access to it; only they had the money and time to engage the services of musicians and composers or the wherewithal and means to attend live concerts (no recordings then) or private chamber music. Even as late as the 20th century, classical music was for snobs.

On the other hand pop music and love songs became the music of the "general public".  Unfortunately, they were and still are trendy. Songs of the 20's gave way to the 30's and 40's, then to the 50's, and so on and on as taste and genre evolved. After Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra .. came Elvis, then the Beatles, Michael Jackson .. Rap music and so many other artists and styles, too lengthy to list everything. And don't forget country and western music.  Except for Rap I've enjoyed all the genre of pop music as they came along from generation to generation. I would still listen to Elvis and The Beatles and romantic songs today.

Meanwhile, classical compositions from as early as the 17th century and for 300 hundred years after that are still being played today in concert halls and large venues like sports stadiums and parks.  Anyone now with access to various recording media from smart phones to TV to  sophisticated multi-speaker systems at home can listen to it. Snobbery may still exist among those self-elevated classical purists  but access and desire to enjoy the same music is no longer limited to the ruling class.

And the thing is, during that long period of almost four centuries, only about forty or so composers are considered to have attained greatness that to this day their works remain the foundation of classical music upon which modern composers continue to build on. The music of Brahms, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Rachmaninov, and thirty plus or so others, are the standards of classical music today.  But only a handful from each composer's works are considered signature pieces that are most sought after by both listeners and musical performers (either vocally or instrumentally).

Pop music by definition is already widely popular to the music-consuming public so we will not spend much time with it.

The encouraging words I pose here are for those sitting on the fence; not for those who are already knee-deep if not entirely immersed in classical music. For those willing to dip their toes into classical music, it is not necessary to go out and buy CDs or download them. Be aware that knowingly or unknowingly you  already have an ear for it. And YouTube is happy to provide.

Those of us of a certain age who loved the Lone Ranger TV series growing up, enjoyed the theme song though perhaps not aware it was from Rossini's  "William Tell" overture.  People who may have already forgotten what the sci-fi movie 2001: A Space Odyssey was all about, even disliked it at the end, will not forget the opening theme music. It was from Richard Strauss's composition "Thus Spoke Zarathustra", followed later "during two intricate and extended space travel sequences" in the movie by "The Blue Danube", that is inarguably the best well known waltz composed by Johann Strauss. A few other award-winning movies like, "Shawshank Redemption", "Fatal Attraction" and "Room With A View" had featured opera arias. 

In the U.S. graduation theme music, often during the recessional, people are familiar with "Pomp and Circumstance" composed by English composer, Edward Elgar. Outside of the U.S. the graduation theme is usually the "Triumphal March" from Giuseppe Verdi‘s opera "Aida". So, whether we like it or not, we've been exposed to classical music.

Broadway musicals, relatively late in the evolution of music, are an easier bridge to cross for most folks. A few of them were adapted from successful plays. "My Fair Lady" from "Pygmalion", "West Side Story" from "Romeo and Juliet", "Camelot" and "Brigadoon" from tales of chivalry and folklore. The Broadway musical, "Rent" was adapted from Puccini's opera, "La bohème". 

Now, I will be the first to admit that I have never sat  nor cared to spend time through an entire opera, let alone listen to all of the arias. And not all classical compositions I find pleasing or tolerable. I know I am not alone in this.

Both Broadway musicals and opera are capable of drawing all kinds of emotional responses from the listener but if I were to draw just one from several memorable sequences - even though I do not understand Italian - there is one aria that is certain to evoke an emotion. Puccini's "Madame Butterfly" was later adapted to Broadway via  "Miss Saigon" by Andrew Lloyd Weber. I recommend this one aria, sung by Carmen Monarcha, a Brazilian soprano, because  the story behind it is explained first by Andre Rieu (famed Dutch conductor and violinist), from the YouTube clip below.  Copy the link  and paste it on your search toolbar and click.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd0j007Y9fY

As a way to convince the reader that perhaps we are indeed hardwired for music, please do the same with the link below and watch a baby sitting on a high chair who for the first time listened to Pavarotti sing. Towards the end watch the baby's feet move with the music, or so it seems.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX6fsvXKw7M

In a nutshell, from all the diversity and choices that music has provided us in so many ways and in the amount of time that humanity has existed, is it not God's gift to the soul?

P.S. It is never too late for anyone to begin a journey into classical music and Broadway musical. All that is needed is a foray into YouTube. There, check out piano prodigy Alexandra Dovgan, whose childhood from as early as five years old to now when she is perhaps 17 or 18 is prominently featured on YouTube.  Patricia Janeckova, soprano who tragically died at age 25, last year, before realizing her full potential. She lives on in YouTube. For Broadway, "Sierra Boggess is an Olivier nominated actress, best known for originating Ariel in Disney's "The Little Mermaid" on Broadway and re-inventing Christine in Phantom of the Opera".

Check out Chopin pieces for piano. His nocturnes and polonaises should be familiar.  Chopin's Piano Concerto No.1 live with Olga Scheps, pianist, is worth listening to on YouTube (13 M views). There are more, obviously, but it is best to let your own taste and preference lay out the framework of your quest. It is food for the mind and a stimulant for the brain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bFo65szAP0