This assortment of unrelated
objects, fashioned at one time or another for a specific purpose, had since
outlived their usefulness, but instead of heading for landfill were given the
chance to become something entirely different in a fifteen minute pop up
performance just before sunset in the centre of our village.
Assembled in a few minutes,
and looking nothing like a musical instrument, that’s what it became. Brandishing
a collection of sticks picked up off the ground the construction came to life
as percussionists aplenty let loose. From toddlers to sixty somethings,
inhibitions were quickly set aside as the tapping, banging, and scraping
gathered momentum and a syncopated rhythm took hold from what started as a
seemingly meaningless noise.
The inevitable foot tapping,
jigging, dancing and running couldn’t be denied as the somewhat primal activity
built to a crescendo and ended with a cheer. It really doesn’t take much to
create a moment which has the possibility to build community within a group of
people, no matter how diverse. Too often we forget how to have fun and simply
enjoy each other’s company.
The experience got me
thinking about breathing new life into the old, not in terms of recycling man
made materials, but in terms of my own purpose. My interpretation of the
purpose for my existence on this planet has determined the direction I’ve
taken, and the decisions I’ve made as to how to care for my body, soul and
spirit, and how to use the things within my control to achieve that purpose.
As the decades pass you can
tend to spend more time looking back than looking forward, assessing your life
and whether you’ve done the best with whatever you had at your disposal. We all
go through many stages where we fulfil different roles. In my adult life I’ve
been a teacher, a wife and mother, as well as taken on several different jobs, and
as those roles have changed I’ve learned to put aside parts of who I am as a
new me has evolved.
Not that those things have lost
their usefulness, they’ve simply become part of the fabric of who I am, to be
drawn on when needed, maybe not in the way they once were, but in new ways in
new situations, making room for new possibilities. The years might be passing,
too quickly it feels at times, but to consider there is still much to look
forward to if I apply my life experiences creatively to the next lot of changes
or challenges in store, gives me hope.
The future doesn’t have to
be constantly reinvented, no matter how much what we once did has been replaced
or superceded by the newer, better, brighter. Even if no one else likes the
fact I prefer writing things down with a pen on paper instead of an ipad, doesn’t
mean I’m past my use by date. And despite the fact I’m part of the
technologically challenged generation which was dragged kicking and screaming
into the 21st century, bamboozled by electronic gizmos, believe it
or not, I can still be useful.
I might not be fulfilling
the purpose I had in the past, but my life still has purpose. It might be at a slower
pace, but hey, if the tune and the rhythm are unfamiliar, it could just be the
start of something new.
