The Courage to Believe

Post 74

FAI

I just returned home from a week at The International Folk Alliance (FAI) Conference in Montreal. The one word that sums up the week is “Hope!”

Spring is wending around the bend. The weather in February can be as cold or colder than in January. But the sun is already heating the earth.

Similarly, the MAGA assault on our freedoms continues, but I believe survival is on its way—not because some savior will descend from heaven to rescue us. After all, MAGA wasn’t born when one man alone descended a golden escalator. I believe our salvation shall come because we are already rebuilding the foundations of cooperation and decency from the ground up. I saw it with my own eyes at the FAI conference.

A SWARM OF ANTI-TRUMPISM

The conference hotel swarmed with bright-eyed, energetic, optimistic young people from all around the world. (There were just as many wonderful older folks there, too.) The young ones sang out their hearts. They sat at the feet of elders. They listened to stories and wisdom. They shared food and music. They harmoniously co-operated while expressing their unique voices.

The environment of this conference was starkly opposite of what I experienced at the music conference in Michigan in 2019. At that conference, judgment and fake political correctness reigned. One of the organizers even claimed, “There are no elders in folk music.” At this conference, love and respect pervaded.

Contrasting these two conferences offers a valuable roadmap to our future. The 2019 conference presaged the lasting impact of Trumpism. The FAI conference I just attended told a story of courage, truth, and hope that human decency can thrive. The 2019 conference was anti-institutional and reeked of Trumpism. The FAI conference exuded the sweet aroma of a healthy society.

OKAY TO HOPE

At this conference, the first time I was asked by a group of young musicians how I was responding to the return of the current president and his agenda to break down our social, economic, and foreign policy systems, a twinge of fear arose in my gut. Was this going to be similar to the 2019 Conference? At that conference, I was called a naïve, old racist white man of privilege who should “step aside” because I dared to believe in the American Ideal. I was publicly humiliated because I suggested we could celebrate our victories.

But what I saw at this conference gave me enough courage to test the waters once again. Still bracing for the kind of derision I received at the 2019 conference, I couched my answer in self-effacement saying, “I may be naïve, but I think the answer is ‘Hope.’”

But instead of receiving derision, I saw faces brighten. Looking deep into my eyes, one woman said, “That’s what I feel.” Others agreed, giving me even more courage to express hope throughout the week.

It was no surprise to see so many young people filled with hope. Nor was it a surprise in 2019 to see a small group of young people determined to bring conflict to anybody who didn’t agree with their agenda to tear the system down. I just so happened to be on the receiving end of their wrath. But both worlds exist.

I was delighted this week to see hope unrepressed by the peer pressure of fake political correctness. Could this be a new trend? Is it okay to hope again? Is it okay to love your country again, despite what our elected leaders and unelected oligarchs are doing to and with it?

At this conference – which took place in Canada, by the way(!) – it was okay to have a positive view of America. Not one Canadian “corrected” me for calling my country “America” instead of “The United States.” In fact, most Canadians also called my country “America.” Not one Canadian scolded me for describing my music as “American” folk music even though I don’t play Venezuelan or Cuban music or music from any other country in “the Americas.” How incredibly opposite to my experience at the 2019 conference.

WHY BRING UP THE 2019 CONFERENCE?

People who regularly read this column may wonder why I keep bringing up the 2019 conference. I do so because it was the recipe for the re-election of Donald Trump: an almost exclusively white attendance with white people disparaging other white people for being white; an almost exclusively American attendance with Americans calling other Americans racists because they believe in the founding principles of America; conference organizers more interested in “political correctness” and appearance than with human decency. That scenario must become unacceptable if we are to defeat Trumpism.

SO, WHY AM I HOPEFUL?

There are two reasons. First, our survival depends on the outflow of positive energy. When we allow fear to flourish, we pave the way for disaster to crash into our lives bringing the depression, illness, and misfortune that travel with it.

Second, I was encouraged to see so many powerful people express optimism in the face of current circumstances. Musicians are inherently powerful because our songs promote and reflect values. This conference overflowed with wholesomeness and a yes-we-can attitude as musician after musician sang songs with positive, uplifting, building messages.

Unlike at the 2019 conference, I didn’t see one person judge another because the other didn’t perfectly fit the first guy’s particular version of political “correctness.” Instead, I witnessed acceptance and building each other up.

WISDOM FROM PAUL MUGWART

Paul Mugwart, the Wisdom Catcher, once told me that it’s a fool’s errand to try to change the karma our society has created for itself over the past several decades by using the approach of the 2019 Conference - treating judgment and anger as virtues while treating compassion and mercy as sins. The best way to lessen the burden of undesirable Karma is to build something better in its place.

Outside the conference, the weather was cold - very cold. But the late February sun was already warming the earth. And inside, although we still lived in a world with Donald Trump in power, the foundations of a better world were already being built and fortified.

The one word that sums up my week is “Hope!”

***

And here, my friends, is my first-ever haiku:

Hope springs eternal
As Spring wends around the bend
Sneezing has begun

Keep the Flame Alive!

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