Oh, forget it. I hardly even know how to describe what I’m talking about. It has something to do with the great, sad feeling you get when you know that we have all somehow failed in the only task set before us that actually mattered: that we haven’t learned how to get along with one another, I mean, and that it’s transparently obvious that we should, because a people never speaks to us so directly and forcefully as through their music, and we’ve all got our own songs to sing, and so communication ought to be the least of our worries instead of the great mountain through which we have not yet proved able to tunnel. What I mean is: like you, I suspect, I’ve found these recent days somewhat hard to take at times, and I’ve taken great comfort in the small things that make up a day. And so when, today, the voices coming out of the stereo came from some unknown map point within the void of history halfway across the world, it landed on me with a peculiar force. For all of you, wherever you are, I wish some similar moment: it is worth having. I will see you here next week. |