Come Home, America

I am offering here a serious proposal to our nation's Republicans
and Democrats in how to bridge our political and cultural divide:

Let's start by welcoming a little honesty into the conversation: we are not at the point where anyone, neither Republican nor Democrat, can effectively compromise on a gun control bill in Congress. So let's drop the charade and hyperbole. Just drop it.

Instead of anything at all about gun control, how about we simply shred the box that we are all in? Yep, shred it, and when there's only pieces strewn about on the ground, let's think of something totally different...

I mean, since we are out of the box, why not be creatively daring? Why not unite behind a ten year plan, but not just any ol' ten year plan, but something really audacious... How about, say, a ten year plan of maybe ten billion dollars to teach every kid in every public school in America, from 4K through high school a musical instrument? And after ten years, as many kids as possible will come to the National Mall in DC for a grand concert that concludes with Beethoven's "Ode to Joy"! 

The kids who can't go to DC can meet in their state Capitals for a similar concert... and the kids who can't get to their state Capital meet in their local communities, again, for the same concert. Why not?

Seriously, instead of wasting our breath in yelling at each other, and both sides refusing to yield any ground to the other, why not do something entirely different and creative? Besides, if our children -- all children -- learn a musical instrument (and every child can!) -- several things will happen: music factually opens new neural pathways in the brain: these new pathways lead to an elevated ability to effectively channel emotions into constructive experiences: the experience of community relationships will deepen: and families will learn the benefits of musical calm and delight...

Shortly before leaving Chinatown-Salinas Soup Kitchen for my sabbatical, I dug out of our trash bin a cardboard sign previously used by a homeless person for panhandling. What did it say? Well, first you've got to picture a big cardboard box with a cut-out space for handholds... The poor dude who tried to make his sign wrote: "HOMELESS VET IN NEED OF..." Exactly where the cut-out was, the Vet started to write "HELP".. but he didn't plan it well, so the "P" turned out to be a "D". So it read, "HOMELESS VET IN NEED OF HELD".

Let's be utterly honest, that homeless vet stumbled upon a golden weave, an absolute truth, and the solution to all of our gun violence: we are in need of "held". Someone has got to hold us. We've got to hold each other. But right now we are so divided that we need a bridge to reach across: why not construct a bridge of music? Why not agree to teach every kid a musical instrument? Why not agree to one humongous concert in which we all either play or sing the "Ode to Joy"? Right now, we are a homeless country, all huddled in the outhouses of our opinions. Right now, we can decide to let music open the locked doors of our hearts: if we enter there, everything will change, and we'll be able to figure things out, and we'll be able to find all the ones who are in need of "held"...