Robert Clements
Yes, there’s music in the booing of a crowd. A music that lies within us and will only start playing when hardship or challenges or the booing of friends and enemies stirs us to try even harder in some venture where the world expects us to fail, and then we succeed, bringing through our success a melody, a rhapsody and a roaring crescendo that will be heard the world over!
There's a legend of a German baron who at his castle on the Rhine, stretched wires from tower to tower, so that the winds would convert them into an Aeolian harp.
After he had installed the wires, a soft breeze played about the castle, but no music came out.
One night there arose a mighty tempest. The hills and castle were assaulted by the fury of mighty winds and late in the night the baron went to the threshold to look out upon the terror of the storm. Standing there, above the sounds of the storm he heard the harp filling the air with soft music.
A tempest was needed to bring out the music.
And, so it is with us dear friends: Tempestuous times may find us buffeted by the strong storms of life. If we are out at sea and not in harbour, we may find it difficult to draw into a sheltered place safe from the storm.
Life tosses us around and we find it difficult to navigate rough waters even if we are guided by a compass.
But, and here I want each one of you who have been buffeted lately to listen: It is in this very process of groping around and fighting the tempest that we find we have inner strength and derive a strong sense of purpose.
Our own Aeolian harps get tuned to play music that makes the world richer for its sounds.
Ancient mariners found out that it was not age alone that improved the quality of the fibre of wood in a ship, but the straining and wrenching of the vessels by the wind and the waves, the chemical action of the bilge water and the weight of many kinds of cargo she carried.
It's the same with human lives stressed and tested in times of conflict and strife!
This is not a political article, though I would like to refer to one of the two main contenders in the soon to be fought general elections: Rahul Gandhi! For nearly a decade he has been joked about, lampooned, ridiculed and booed, and yet suddenly the whole nation is looking at him as a formidable opponent to the once invincible Modi!
He’s worked out how to make sweet music from the booing!
So, be strong my friends, hold onto the vision of distant harbour lights and row with the tempest howling: Then and only then will you hear a sweet melody..!
Robert Clements is a newspaper columnist and author. He blogs at www.bobsbanter.com and can be reached at bobsbanter@gmail.com
