Windy Weather

 

“Windy weather, windy weather

When the wind blows, we all come back together.”

 

This little children’s game ended up being a central piece of my story. It was taught by a man giving an Orff workshop at The San Francisco School who was fired for incompetence and I volunteered to take over. After one class, they decided to hire me as their first music teacher— and I stayed on for 45 years. I’m eternally grateful to that man, whose name I don’t remember and never met again. And that little game is kind of fun!

 

It is a seriously windy day out, so much so that I cancelled my planned walk to visit yet another school and consult with the Orff teacher and am waiting for my wife to come home with the car. Gusts between 25 and 30 miles an hour and trees using their mycorrhizal network to warn each other to hold fast. Feeling trapped indoors, I decided to finish Isabel Wilkerson’s superb book Casteand just closed it having read her vision of a world without caste. So simple, so close at hand, yet so elusive as we keep letting the winds of the past blow us around and knock us off any track that considers our shared humanity. The winds that blow send multiple messages, but the one we could choose— and so often refuse— is the simple reminder that we’re all in this together and that when we claim privilege, consciously or unconsciously, we not only hurt those we place beneath us, but we hurt each ourselves, our families, our friends, our neighbors. “When the wind blows, we all come back together.” Yes, we could and yes, we can and yes, some of us do much of the time and yes, many of us do some of the time, but what’s missing is the clear and shared commitment. 

 

All these children’s games I’ve played for so many years carry multiple layers of meaning for me. Old Man Mosie, Old King Glory, The Mulberry Bush, Lemonade Crunch Ice. Thinking about writing a new book, kind of like The Tao According to Pooh, a look at deep principles of Right Living through the lens of children’s games. A good project for rainy/windy days.

 

Any encouragement?