Right, so I guess I've gotten a little lax on the blogging. My apologies; life has been busy! I'll at least try for once a month.
Last night at choir rehearsal I was immediately transported back to 9th grade choir. We've just gotten our music for the Carols by Candlelight service and, flipping through the music, one caught my eye right away. On the cover was a distinctive cartoon drawing of a little shepherd boy staring up at a starry night sky. It grabbed my attention because I'd seen it before--in my first two years of high school, our choir director used to take us caroling to nursing homes in December. This song (an arrangement of "do you hear what I hear") was one of my favorites. Seeing it brought back thoughts of home; not just home as in the place where I currently reside, but the memories of childhood in Philadelphia before the realities of the brokenness of life really set in. I think, for me, this is what's really at the heart of homesickness; I don't yearn to be back at a specific address, but rather in a specific web of relationships and circumstances that I often idealize anyway. And I suppose that part of the loss that I feel has more to do with the recognition that, being away, life is still moving forward--friends and family are changing, I'm changing--and even when I return it won't be exactly the same as when I left.
When we actually started to work on the song, I realized right away that it was different. Oh, only slightly, but noticeable. Two part harmony instead of three. A slightly different line. The same was true of 'Joy to the World'. Almost the same, but a couple of words altered, the alto part not quite the one that's been ingrained into my head all these years. Just a shade off, but sometimes in makes all the difference.
Speaking of holidays, Halloween was a completely different experience here than in the US. Which is to say, it was a non-event. I didn't see any trick-or-treaters. Though I actually did go out with two of my students (we were the only ones). Most people didn't answer their doors. When they did, we actually had to do a 'trick' to get a 'treat'. And often it was a few pence as opposed to candy. How very different. Talking to some of our congregants about it, they mentioned that it was starting to become more commercialized here. And then, quite seriously, they blamed it on the US's influence. I laughed a little. True, quite possibly, but it wasn't something I'd ever really considered before.
Perhaps I should have. See, in the past weeks, I've heard those words a lot more. Whether it's in relation to finance or consumer attitudes, a lot of the trends here are attributed to the influence that the States have on the rest of the world. One person pointed out that it makes sense because the US is so big. Yes, I suppose so. But this is one aspect of how the world (or at least the UK) perceives the United States that I haven't really encountered before. Oh, I've heard some pretty nasty things said (and I don't mean here, but in traveling in general), experienced incredible hostility and been the brunt of "stupid American" jokes, but I have to say the "bad influence" aspect is new for me. And intriguing. Because there's a lot of subtext in a statement like that, whether or not it's intended.
I suppose I will end with Remembrance Day (this would be Veterans' Day in the US). I don't feel like I can leave it untouched, but it's hard to know what to say. The Sunday closest to the 11th is Remembrance Sunday, when services are held. And ours was incredibly moving. In a world where there is so much divisiveness, the pain of war is universal, transcending culture, class and creed.
Poppies, bugles, silence, the national anthem...I could describe all of these things, but in the end I rest on the irony of the thought that the very agony in which we are united is born of the fighting that arises because we are different.
Beautifully written! : )
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