The news about Covid 19 is constant: numbers, percentages, human faces, human lives. We are scared, we are concerned, we are confused. We search frantically for some good news, some ray of light to help us make sense of the senseless.
And it is there. It is there in the young couple checking on their elderly neighbor. It is there in the phone calls, texts, and precious FaceTime minutes spent with family and friends. And it is there in the artists and musicians who have used their unique talents to make the way easier.
As someone who works with both art and music, I know in my heart that what I do matters. This last few weeks, I see it even more. We are hungry for the soothing voice, the image of hope, the humor of a cartoon, the dancing rhythms of a good band.
Musicians have seen their gigs cancelled, and yet they are sharing songs of hope and joy in free streamed concerts and fund raisers. I watched a flute maker give away 50 free flutes because, as he said, people needed their healing sound right now. I’ve listened to several bands online who asked for donations, not for themselves, but for other struggling musicians.
Artists have stepped up, too. I have laughed at cartoons and felt my spirits lifted by shared images of paintings, photos, and sculpture. They are capturing the pathos of the situation, but also the beauty of the world around us, the people and their resilience, the odd moment in time.
It has always been the job of artists and musicians to deal with the happenings around them, to bring some kind of meaning to what we are experiencing. In times of stress, it is especially vital that we have these people to show us things from a different angle, to make us see our place in the web of life, to make us understand that humanity is always shared humanity. And, sometimes, to make us relax, to make us laugh, to make us see that it will be all right.
The arts enrich our lives on a daily basis, but sometimes we take them for granted. Now, in a time where nothing can be taken for granted, we see them as the all important food for our souls that they are.