Accentuate the Positive

                                    “You’ve got to accent-tuate the positive,

                                    E-lim-inate the negative,

                                  Latch on, to the affirmative

                                  Don’t mess with Mister In-Between…”

-       Harold Arlen/ Johnny Mercer

Back in the day, we used to take sixty  3^rd to 5^th graders camping for five days up in Calaveras Big Trees in the foothills of the Sierras. In the last week of school, when report cards were due and we needed to close our classrooms. It was insanely hard work and organization—especially since we slept out in the elements and did all our own cooking with the kids. But it was glorious and memorable and I would not have traded it for the world. And we did it for some twenty years!!

 

I was unofficially the camp head because I knew all the songs and could work the crowd. I remember one year I gave a talk at the beginning that went something like this:

 

“Now pay attention, because I want to warn you about all the things that have happened before. One year a rattlesnake crossed our path. Another time a bear came into camp. Yet another some raccoons came into a kids’ tent at night because he had hidden some candy there. We found some mushrooms once and a kid was about to eat one when we stopped him and found out it was poisonous. Another kid climbed too high in a tree and fell and broke his arm. Sometimes it rains really hard and we have no shelter other than our tents. And one year it snowed! Oh, and then there was the time helicopters were flying overhead and we heard there was an escaped convict in the area. So I just want to prepare you for these dangers. Any questions?" (Note: All of this really happened!)

 

A kid meekly raised his hand and said, “Can you stop scaring us please? Is there anything fun about this trip?” It was a needed reminder to remember to “accentuate the positive.”

I’m enjoying the grand pleasure of re-reading a book by Wynton Marsalis titled To a Young Jazz Musican, Amongst many gems of advice he gives this young man is this:

 

“We’re always thinking about what’s wrong in our practicing. We have to realize: What keeps you play is what’s right. You’re not going to keep pursuing something that tastes nasty; it’s got to have some sweetness somewhere in it. 

 

Always pursue that joy, the sweetness. Don’t work solely out of a negative frame of reference.  Yes, there’s bullshit going on, corruption, people doing bad things. Truth is, all of that is to help you identify a positive frame of reference. That is what will sustain you.”

 

To which I say, “Amen!” Yesterday’s April 5^th rally was a reminder of the joy of people gathering to say “NO!” to what’s going on as a way to say “YES!” to the wonderful things in this life that bring fairness, happiness, health and a positive quality of life. As I knew it would be, the energy was upbeat, uplifting and empowering. I loved the wit and creativity and intelligence and caring and artistry of the hundreds of homemade signs (see photos below). Alone at home reading or watching the news, we are dragged down to the pit of despair, but gathering together, it’s a whole different feeling. Isolated despair paralyzes, collective hope inspires. 

 

Back in the Yippie days of the late 60’s and early 70’s, there was the idea that more people would wake up to justice and peace and love if they realized it was more fun to be “on the bus” than “off the bus.” That mantra from  The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test describing a bus traveling around the country with LSD in the Kool-Aid that (temporarily) expanded consciousness. For some, that led them to a spiritual yearning and brought them to a more sustainable spiritual practice and a life lived with more heart, soul, intelligence and caring.

 

Now the Kool -Aid is laced with fear and lies and ignorance and the 80 million people who drank it, duped by leaders who care nothing about them, keep wearing the “red hat” of “hat-red” (hatred). Not only are they causing immeasurable damage, but they're missing out on the fun of caring and thinking and feeling and living a good life. (Though some are waking up as their jobs disappear and the economy is tanking). 

 

In summary. There is SO MUCH to be negative about but don’t let it grab you by your throat and throw you down. There is also SO MUCH to be positive about, but don’t go there naively, happy because you had a good meal and the suffering masses be damned. Feel the grief and pain and rise to the joy, in company with others by your side. And for goodness sakes, keep getting out to the streets. It feels good, it’s a positive action and it makes a difference. 

 

Over and out.