My apologies for not being around for the past weeks. There
were some tasks that could not wait.
In the early ’70s, there was a famous rock band in the
Netherlands, Exception, well known for playing classical music in a very modern
version. They gave a concert in my hometown, together with the city orchestra.
The audience was not exactly quiet and the members of the orchestra refused to
play while people in the audience were talking loud. No matter how the director
approached the audience, asking and in the end almost begging, it all did not
work out as he wished. Then the foreman of the band stepped forward. He grabbed
the microphone and in a soft voice, he told the people that nobody was going to
hear a single note unless the noise stopped. After he finished his speech you
could hear a pin drop.
Many years ago I attended a performance of the Dutch National
Ballet and while waiting for the lights to dim people all around were talking
and it was quite noisy. On stage, I saw this man on the floor, face down and I
could only see the fingers of one hand going up and down. After a few minutes, more and more people noticed him and in the end, you hear his fingers thumping
on the floor. It was the start of a fantastic evening with beautiful dances.
In the past, I attended many concerts, festivities, ballet
performances, etc. etc. Often when people wanted attention they were shouting to
the audience “Silence please!” Too often it did not generate any success at
all. Most people don’t like others shouting to them
.
In the movie (based on a true event) “The long walk home”,
we can see Whoopi Goldberg in the role of Odetta Cotter. This (black) woman stood
up against the white community. Being black she was not allowed to have a seat
in the front rows of the buses. Instead, she had to stand in the back. Until she
decides to boycott the buses and walk to her work and back home. Slowly she
gets the attention and more black people start following her protest. Tensions
grew in the city and it even became violent. Yet the strong black people kept
on boycotting the bus company. They never started the violence. In the end, they
won.
Of course, everybody knows about Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi,
the Indian politician who never ever used violence against the oppressors of
his country. He became one of the greatest leaders the world has ever seen.
Martin Luther King fought for equal rights for the black
Americans. He is well known for his famous “I have a dream” speech, in which he
told me that he hoped his country would be freed from discrimination one day.
These are just a few examples of how people can reach their
goal (or at least make giant leaps toward it) without raising their voice or
becoming violent. I am not a psychologist or whatever ‘ogist’ but my guess is
that people tend to be more open when messages are coming to them from the
heart. For several years now people, acting
on the big world stage, seem not to know about this. The louder they shout the
bigger their audiences get. But let me see what is going on. It appears to be a
contradiction, right? History shows that barkers got themselves in high
positions too but there was never a ‘happy ending’. That is; I cannot name one.
Unfortunately the barkers are back. They like to make crap
statements and to scold other people. Yes they are popular too. There is a lot
of anger in the world these days and the barkers like to use that. But they
never have real solutions. They will never become the big leaders the world
needs right now. Sometimes it scares me. But then again I do not want my life
to be ruled by fear and so I just go on, trying to make the best out of it.
Hoping to pick up some soft whisper that bit by bit will get more attention.
Love the ones you’re with
and be loved in return.
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