Some thoughts on arts council’s concert

Sometimes, I end up discovering things in ways I never saw coming. While some of those discoveries leave me feeling either happy or sad, there were other moments in my life where I found myself caught completely off guard as I started looking deeper into what I had discovered.

The most recent happened just a few days ago when I took time to stop by the Church of the Nazarene to talk to folks preparing to showcase various songs they planned to sing during the “Music the American Way” concert.

Hosted by the Mountain Home Arts Council, the event brought together teams of soloists and musical groups who presented a variety of music that included selections of classic American rock ‘n’ roll from the 1950s to the early 1980s. It seemed these performers specifically selected some of these songs as a way to promote the various messages their lyrics included.

For example, the Moody Blues’ hit “Nights in White Satin” illustrates a person’s yearning for unrequited love while Buddy Holly’s classic tune “That’ll Be the Day” highlights the pain people deal with when their relationship with the one they love comes to an end.

Those messages continued during the community concert as the performance of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Proud Mary” represented the metaphor for rebirth and the promise of a new life for those who chose to take their life along a new pathway. At the same time, the message Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young highlighted in “Teach Your Children” served as a reminder for parents to show their children the importance of being kind to others and for their children to continue that message when they become parents themselves.

While I remember the lyrics to these songs as well as many others, it seemed the community concert took me along a pathway I never saw coming. It began as I took photos during the evening’s main rehearsal.

I watched as the children, teens and adults gathered on the stage at the local church. Together, they snapped their fingers in unison as they recited the refrain from the Youngbloods’ contemporary song “Get Together,” which the band released nearly 58 years ago.

Looking back on my life, the song remained a part of my childhood since it had a rhythm that connected with me. Each time I heard it on the radio in my family’s home as I grew up, I tended to recite the refrain when I could: “Come on, people now / Smile on your brother / Everybody get together / Try to love one another right now…”

As I continued listening to everyone singing during the concert rehearsal, I found myself wanting to sing along. However, I kept my voice rather silent since I didn’t want to interfere with the rehearsal as I uttered the song’s refrain as I stood several feet away from the stage.

It was here that I suddenly felt a moment of realization: I didn’t remember the song’s other lyrics. The only part I remembered was the refrain and nothing more.

My sense of curiosity continued tugging at me once I got home that evening. It urged me to play that song and study its lyrics, which required me to look it up online.

As I read those words, I found myself in a state of disbelief. In all the years I’d heard that song, I never knew how powerful that song’s message represented.

I suppose the one thing that punched me the hardest was the simple fact that it reminded all of us that we are merely human, and our time on this world remains fairly limited. As the song clearly points out:

“We are but a moment’s sunlight / Fading in the grass…”

At the same time, the Youngbloods ensured we never forget that one important lesson when it comes to expressing love for the people we know while fighting away the anger and possibly a sense of fear we may have with regards to those we tend to disagree with. It’s a message that took center stage during the Cold War in which the former Soviet Union continued to threaten the United States and its allies all because those in power felt they were somehow more important than everyone else who lived on this planet we all share.

For nearly a half century, the world remained on the razor’s edge of this conflict escalating to the point where the Soviet Union launched a preemptive nuclear first strike against those it opposed. Granted, it was pretty clear that any attempt to start that war would only lead to the total annihilation of humanity.

It’s the same message we’re seeing today as the leader of Russia committed his people to fight in the Ukraine. With his forces continuing to take heavy losses, the leader of that country then pulled in additional troops from North Korea to join in that fight.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how the leader of that Communist country expressed threats against his neighbors living south of the demilitarized zone that for decades separated what was once a unified nation. At the same time, North Korea’s military forces do everything they can to punish, meaning kill, anyone who tries to flee that nation in hopes of finding the peace and love they lack.

In case you forgot, the leader of North Korea automatically got promoted as the nation’s leader after his father died. At no point was anyone in that country given permission to vote to select who they felt deserved to lead that nation, especially those who suffer from malnutrition and starvation while those in power continue to enjoy all the food they receive because they are somehow more important than others who are less fortunate.

At the same time, the United States and its allies face additional threats from China, who suddenly seems like it deserves to lead the citizens of this world. Frequent news headlines highlight some of the ways that nation has ramped up its threats against those who oppose their tyranny.

I guess none of these tyrants ever took time to learn a more important lesson – finding ways to work to strengthen humanity versus trying to tear it apart. As the song by the Youngbloods clearly points out, these people will not live forever, and their tyranny will only represent lessons the rest of humanity needs to learn from versus repeating these same mistakes.

Perhaps the one thing all of these tyrants may feel is a sense of fear versus trying to extend a sense of love and compassion. As the song “Get Together” reminds all of us: “You hold the key to love and fear / All in your trembling hand…”

Simply put, humanity has a choice on which of these doors it chooses to unlock. However, I will add that the Youngbloods urged the people of this world to open the one that leads to peace and love versus opening the one that leads us into a constant state of fear and anger toward others.

Simply put, we can either continue making mistakes by unlocking the door that leads to more fear we will face, or we can choose to unlock the other door that leads us onto a much safer pathway in which we represent the elements that make humanity so unique. It’s the second doorway I sincerely hope those in power finally realize they need to open instead.

– Brian S. Orban