Wonderbringers Newsletter with Monica Parker
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Hello Wonderseekers!
Between the anger, the violence, the fear, the frustration, the crazy-making across America, there is also a palpable sense of collective grief. And it stretches beyond America’s shores. Across the world, there are people who have stories of the fondness with which they held the US and the American Experiment.
I recall vividly a cool spring evening when I had first arrived in London. There was a Tube strike, and heaps of Londoners trying to get home were cramming themselves into overstuffed buses. An elderly gentleman offered me his seat and would not let me refuse. We began chatting, and when he heard my accent, he whistfully shared the story of the first piece of chocolate he had ever tasted and the American GI who had given it to him. Turned out he was a member of the House of Lords. Here was this very important man, who had met all manner of very important people, transforming into the little 6-year-old boy clutching a Hershey Bar, still awed in his indebtedness to America for it. Such a poignant reminder of how even the forgotten minutiae of our actions can be a gift of wonder and hope.
I realise this collective grief is the loss of something that maybe never really existed except in our minds. America is hardly blameless in the apportionment of the world's ills. And I am also not blind that the American Experiment has not supported all of us equally. A good friend of mine stateside, a Black woman, explained to me that her grief is mitigated because ‘we always knew we were not supported by the system, so we have had our own systems, our own values and community.’
But for many, it is a loss of something invaluable and yet intangible. Of innocence, perhaps. Of ideals and idealism. Of standing for something good and hopeful. So if we can’t look to our nation or our leaders for that hope, where do we look? My answer is to ourselves first. We can’t let sclerotic apathy settle in our bones.
I came across a video of Kermit (the Frog, obviously) having a sing-along to ‘Rainbow Connection’ with an audience of choral singers. Of course, I knew the song. What kid growing up in the '70s didn't? But I haven't really looked at the lyrics lately, and seeing them again made me realise just how steeped in wonder they are, and also what an anthem of hope it is.
So I’ve pasted the lyrics and video below. My challenge to you is this: as soon as you read this, please join this sing-along from wherever you are. Right now. This second. Find a meeting room or a bathroom stall or with your kids in the car or right there in your home office in front of the cats. Don't wait. Hope deserves urgency.
If you're brave, belt it out on the subway platform or the produce aisle or the teachers’ lounge. But do it. And know that there are thousands of you across the world singing those same hopeful words.
Hope starts with you. It starts with us. And with Kermit (natch).
Rainbow Connection
Why are there so many
Songs about rainbows
And what's on the other side?
Rainbows are visions
But only illusions
And rainbows have nothing to hide
So we've been told and some choose to believe it
I know they're wrong, wait and see
Someday we'll find it
The rainbow connection
The lovers, the dreamers and me
Who said that every wish
Would be heard and answered
When wished on the morning star?
Somebody thought of that
And someone believed it
Look what it's done so far
What's so amazing that keeps us stargazing
And what do we think we might see?
Someday we'll find it
The rainbow connection
The lovers, the dreamers and me
All of us under its spell
We know that it's probably magic
Have you been half asleep
And have you heard voices?
I've heard them calling my name
Is this the sweet sound
That calls the young sailors?
The voice might be one and the same
I've heard it too many times to ignore it
It's something that I'm supposed to be
Someday we'll find it
The rainbow connection
The lovers, the dreamers and me
Someday we'll find it
The rainbow connection
The lovers, the dreamers and me
Someday we'll find it
The rainbow connection
The lovers, the dreamers and me
Some wonderbringers for me this week:
Chocolate Invasion: Did chocolate help to win WWII?
We’re learning just how early in life empathy starts to move us: What crying, hugs and other behaviour in infants tells us about the roots of emotional connection.
Watch: ‘My Orange Garden’: In Anna-Sophia Richard’s short film, a woman sentenced to prison for singing in public in Iran grapples with repression and longs for home.
Can’t believe it’s October already! Time for cosiness (and the dreaded pumpkin spice!!!)
With wonder,
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