We have all just learned that Pete Seeger just passed away at age 94, after a long and interesting life. I was reading an interview he did with Sarah van Gelder for YES! Magazine/Spring 2008. He shared something with her that got me thinking about my desire to open my gallery in Sanger because I wanted to "connect" with my own community. Read one of Sarah's questions and Pete's response here:
Sarah: What’s your secret to getting children singing, getting people even at Carnegie Hall singing together, getting people to fall in love with their river and take care of it? Are there some things we can learn about why people choose to get involved?
Pete: Well, it’s been my belief that learning how to do something in your hometown is the most important thing. It’s not just me who thinks this. Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of people can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has.” And the great biologist René Dubos said, “Think globally, act locally.” And E.F. Schumacher said “Small is beautiful.” And now Paul Hawken. All these people are saying the same thing.
If there’s a world here in a hundred years, it’s going to be saved by tens of millions of little things. The powers-that-be can break up any big thing they want. They can corrupt it or co-opt it from the inside, or they can attack it from the outside. But what are they going to do about 10 million little things? They break up two of them, and three more like them spring up!
The power of "little things", mentioned once again. When I opened my gallery in Sanger a little over two years ago, my goal was to do my art in a place where I could connect with my own town. This Friday, I am invited to a luncheon at the local Rotary Club where 20 people (10 men, 10 women) have had the honor of thanking their town of Sanger on the 125th anniversary of it's existence. I am honored to be one of those 20 people. I'll talk more about it after Friday, but, for now, I'm going to ponder Pete's statement that "It's been my belief that learning how to do something in your hometown is the most important thing" a bit longer and harder. . . . .
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| "My Dad's Home Town" |
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