The Right Story

Someone once asked a Rabbi, “Every time I hear you speak, you always seem to find the right words for the right occasion, saying exactly what needs to be said in that moment. How do you do it?”

 

With a twinkle in his eye, the Rabbi answered: “I can best explain with a story.”

 

“Once upon a time, there was an archer who was the best in the kingdom. Everyone who challenged him to a competition lost as he hit bulls-eye after bulls-eye. He was always looking for other good archers worthy to challenge. 

 

Then one day, he heard people speak of a remarkable archer who they believed was the best in the land. So he traveled to a distant town until he came to the house where the archer lived. Next to the house was a barn with painted bulls-eyes and arrows straight in the center of each one. He knocked on the door and a 10-year old girl answered. 

 

“Hello,” he greeted her. “I’ve heard tell that there is an expert archer who lives here. May I speak with your father?”

 

“Oh, he’s no archer,” replied the girl. “He’s good at chess, but he can’t shoot an arrow straight to save his life.”

 

“Then who shot those arrows in the barn wall?”

 

“I did” replied the girl. 

 

“You?!!” said the archer astonished. “How far away were you when you shot?”

 

“About a hundred yards or so,” she replied casually.

 

“This is unbelievable!” exclaimed the archer. “I’ve never seen such expertise. May I ask you your secret?”

 

“It’s simple,” she said. “I shoot an arrow into the barn wall and wherever it hits, I draw a bulls-eye around it.”

 

“And so it is when I speak” said the Rabbi. “I notice where the arrow of the moment hits and draw my words around it.”

 

I love this story and tell it when people ask me how I sometimes find the right words for an occasion, be it something formal like a Wedding or Memorial Service or Graduation, an informal moment, like noticing what happens in one of my music classes or workshops ,or reacting to the daily news and finding the words to give it meaning. I clearly have no remarkable talent that the World notices or seems to care about, but I do have a clear vision of both the world as it is and as I wish it might be and with that at the center, often can find the needed words for a given moment that resonate with others. 

 

So thank you to Angela Lloyd for first telling me that above story. It was a weekend Orff Mini- conference when she did so at the “Untalent Show,” accompanying herself dressed as a one-woman band with various percussion instruments strapped to her body. She then went on to do our summer Orff training and I always looked forward to her next story.

 

When she was in Level II, I gave a talk announcing my vision for establishing an Orff Institute West in the Bay Area. The next day, passing me in the hall, she stopped me and gave me $10. “What’s this for?” I asked. “First donation to Orff Institute West. I pinned it to my bulletin board at home. 

 

Next year in Level III she asked, “How’s the fundraising for Orff Institute West going?” “Well, I still have your ten dollars on my bulletin board.” “Here’s the next installment,” she said, handing me another $10. “At this rate, we should have the few million dollars needed in a few thousand years!” I quipped, thanking her. 

 

According to a friend who said she saw it on Facebook, Angela left us yesterday. So I tell these stories in her honor, hoping to hit a small bulls-eye for the occasion to mark her generosity, humor, wacky character and lovely spirit. Thank you, Angela, for the story, the donations and for you. R.I.P.