Folkfest

Monday, August 12, 2013

Folkfest

Friday was folk festival night for me and the gang and we had a wonderful time, well as far as I know this was true for most of us anyway. This was the first time I had attended this event and I am quite surprised at how much I enjoyed all the music other than a couple of hillbilly bands that played and those that sounded too country. I am more of a rock kind of dude. If you were so inclined, check out 105.9 Shinefm. or Shinefmrocks.com. you would hear my kind of music. Country, let along folk music, is just not my thing but all in all I had a great time running into people I knew and chatting with people I didn’t. On top of the amazing new bands I was exposed to and during the main stage event, a photo shoot of some girls was going on behind and to the right of me. They were so close that I could have reached out and grabbed one of them by the leg. At one point they even stood right beside me, then surrounded us while shooting so there are probably some magazine photos out there of me and my friends back watching the show.

I was also not surprised though that
when the bands would first begin to play early in the evening it took a while before people would really start to enjoy themselves, I must say it reminded me of the k-days parade. It was as though I and my friend Monica had witnessed zombies lined up behind an invisible force field to watch their dinner prance by, they wanted to partake in what their eyes did covet but had no clue how to do it. They were afraid that if they did take that extra step to enjoy themselves there would be that pain of reprisal. Is it not so with most of us though, that when there is something we really want to enjoy, something good natured such as whooping and hollering and having a good time amidst a crowd of our peers, there are walls that need to be broken through first. A critical voice tells us “you’ll look like a fool!”, so we sit back and wait until somebody else becomes that fool. Then hopefully another and another, soon there will be enough fools out there whistling and waving, enough fools dancing and making noise that we can feel comfortable enough to merge into this crew of fools to really begin and enjoy the spirit of the festivities.

It seems so sad to me that this is just a couple examples of the desensitization of an entire generation to live entertainment by an electronic age gone amuck, we have gone beyond the bonds of fellowship to the shackles of isolated distraction. Then when we do come face to face, so to speak, with living beings it takes us a while to adjust, to realize that we’re supposed to clap and cheer rather than turn up the volume on the remote. Would you have me truly have me believe that this is the way God intended it. Most of the crowd, early on, hardly moved to the music. Sad…so sad.                          

  Though the lack of self-discipline is one snare when it comes to the overuse of artificial activity, there is another reason for our diversionary stupor. We’ve been told lies, lies that have been ingrained into Gods children and passed down generation after generation. Let me ask you, do you remember as a child your parents saying to you, “cut that out, you’re embarrassing me.”? Even as something remotely similar to this, as children we still pick up on such things and come to the belief that standing out in a crowd is viewed as something undesirable. Well I say bullshit; even our Father Most High had it written down that He did not give us a spirit of fear, also Jesus in Matt. 18:3-4 {And He said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (NIV)} Forget your pride, why not be the first to wave back, whistle and clap to a passing float. Why not be the first to give the band a boisterous YAHOOOO! These people have enough love of the game to get up in front of a crowd to entertain us so why are we so reluctant to give something back? Let’s get up off our high horse and let those who take time, who work hard or act the fool so that we may go home with a smile on our face and a memory that would last us well beyond a single moment in history, know of our appreciation without hiding behind someone else’s LOVE.  

Here is a little something I felt compelled to write while at the folk fest on Friday.

Festival

Set makes its song

So echoes celebration

Crashes partial to calm

Searching out exhilaration

Thrashing, bashing and harassing

Fleeting beating so greeting

Those familiar to remote interact

Till slapping digits do sound

Does wanting rhythm accept

Its reciprocal love profound