I was always jealous of religious people. They have a wonderful community that non-religious people could never be a part of and never understand. That, and their places of worship are beautiful.
If we could have community without religion, wouldn’t that be wonderful? A place moderated by no judgement, no hatred, a common understanding of human nature, belief in humanity for good.
I found community in music, and I woke up this morning thinking about my short but lovely meeting with Jude, a guitarist I haven’t seen in ten years.
He’s lost weight, cut his long hair, gotten married, and is expecting a baby in a months time with his wife. It was such a happy thing to see, and I felt genuinely happy for someone else for the first time in a long time, no buts, no “ee yer you xyz / negative thoughts / sell out / blah / bad thoughts”.
None of that. Just sincerely happy.
And I like this version of me. A lot.
So Jude is from West Grand Boulevard and we used to always be on the same line up at gigs. We came out in the same “era”, the early 2010s, when instruments were still cool and grunge was kinda acceptable. The hours spent waiting and complaining about the time between sound check and actual show unwittingly became time spent making a community.
Happens rather organically. No activist type “building a community”.
I believe in that, and the need for human connection. I believe it makes me a better person for it.
It’s beautiful isn’t it.
