What We Have

After showing my 8th grade class the video 'War Dance' (the story of Ugandan children placed in a refugee camp after being displaced from thier homes or orphaned by the Ugandan cival war) I wonderd when something was so serverly wrong and negative, how much does it take for one to be able to overcome?  For many of us, we stress over meager things.  Yes we have disease and death and poverty in our own country and I agree that we should be reaching out to those who are less fortunate and in need, but this film was such a reminder to me that I am so blessed to be living the life in the country that I am.  I am so grateful to have been born into a free and generally safe country.  Even though my family struggled greatly with money and fell into the category of the "disfunctional" 80% of American families, I never ever had to worry for my safety.  I never needed to worry about someone coming into to my community or home and brutalizing myself or loved ones.  As much as I have focused on and tried to deal with my difficult childhood and past unpleasant experiences I never had to deal with what many many people world wide are going through and living as their daily life.  Obvious to me now, and in my opinion, it is human nature to be consumed with yourself and your own problems.  It is a mindset that we are raised with.  In this film, the students of the school at the refugee camp expressed thier feeling about music and how important and inspiring it was to them in their daily life.  They beleived that it took their pain away and as a result for the present moment of creating music, it did.  Music was able to transport them to another place.  A spirtual and whole place where beauty and community and harmony resides.  Music was part of their secret.  Even though the pain is so severe in this place, there still lies hope, inspiration, love and joy.  It is an intrinsic feeling of actually creating something beautiful as a harmonious community.  Not a superfical joy of do I have the newest ipod to play my music on.  A line that I love from the film from a 13 year old girl was "even though we live in war country we still have good to give."  I think to myself that if this girl can have that outlook after losing both of her parents, her siblings and her home, I should have that outlook.  I pray for, and bless all of the people in Uganda and around the world who have expierenced brutality and evil and also the ones who are inflicting it, often times not even of thier own free will.  I wish joy and peace for them.  Even though there are so many things that can potentially be wrong with our lives, I am reminded that there is so much beauty in the seemingly small things that I take advantage of.  I am so appreciative to have music in my life daily.  I am thankful for the abundanace of love and peace that I am able to feel today.  I am thankful for the gift of compassion that this film has given to some of my students.  I am thankful for this day!