It Felt Love
How
Did the rose
Ever open its heart
And give to this world
All its
Beauty?
It felt the encouragement of light
Against its
Being,
Otherwise,
We all remain
Too
Frightened.
-Hafiz
After a car bomb ripped through his Baghdad neigbourhood, Karim Wasfi, the conductor of the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra, sat on a stool amidst the rubble and played his cello. Here is an extract from his interview by Al Jazeera :
So the act of playing the cello was the opposite to the act of detonating a bomb?
Yes. Creating life, basically. I don’t want that to turn into an inevitability of the situation in Iraq: death experienced on a daily basis. No, I want to do the opposite. Life is experienced on a daily basis. Even though we don’t experience normalcy. When things are normal, I will have more responsibilities and obligations. But when things are insane and abnormal like that, I have the obligation of inspiring people, sharing hope, perseverance, dedication, and preserving the momentum of life.
How did people react to you when you started to play?
They loved it. Soldiers cried. They kissed, they clapped, they felt alive, they felt human and they felt appreciated and respected, which does not surprise me.
Would you dare to do something like this? I’m almost certain I wouldn’t be able to.
Maybe life is calling us in smaller ways to stand up to injustice, fear, superstition.
Perhaps life is calling us to be authentic – to risk opening ourselves to the light and in doing so bring meaning to ourselves and others.
Could life be calling us to risk being unpopular for the greater good?
Is life calling us to open ourselves to feel the pain, the heartache, the fears of others…..To be men and women of compassion?
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Pic credit : Rose Image from Shutterstock
I love the story of the cellist, about living, creating and inspiring even amid destruction. Really brings things together.
I just came across it, Lori and had to share.
Music amidst pain…..hope amidst despair……this is so touching……and beautiful poem too…….This will stay with me for sometime. Thanks for sharing it Corinne…..
It’s strange that I came across both on the same day, Sunaina and just had to share because they made so much sense to me.
I guess we can all learn from the rose. 🙂
Yes, we can. It’s hard to make ourselves vulnerable, but we must.
I think it takes a lot of courage to come out in the middle of all that and remind people to hope for a better tomorrow..
So important to remember this..
Thankyou Corinne.
It does, Seena. Thanks for stopping by.
Wow! Inspiring. it’s certainly not easy to attempt something like that in times of crisis. Thank you for sharing the story. It tells that we all need hope.
Hope – it’s a word in short supply, but we can add to it in small yet powerful ways.
I would have cried too if I had watched him play the Cello. How humanity rises in situation like these is amazing. Beautiful post Corinne.
You can watch the video, Rajlakshmi. It brought tears to my eyes – imagine how people there felt.
These little acts of bravery are what restores my belief in humanity. Would I be able to do something like that? I don’t know. But these stories just fill up my heart with wonder.
Yes, we must really hear a lot more stories like this and I believe that there are many.
It wouldn’t be easy for anyone to do what Karim Wapsi did that day. There was something remarkable he said – Life is to be experienced on a daily basis.
So simple and yet so deep, is it not, Anamika?
What Karim Wasfi did was a loving gesture. Life is lived in happier moments than anything else. Corinne, you inspired me to join #1000Speak. Love to you.
Thank you, Vasantha.
It is such a daring and important act not to meet hate and anger with more hate and anger. To instead play your cello, as it were, during a time when it would be understandable if you packed your instrument away and withheld the music from everyone.
Yes, such an unusual response and such a powerful statement of hope amidst destruction. Thanks for stopping by, Mel.
Such a positive post. Makes you think against the negatives with positivity #mg
Thank you, Karen.
Oh Corinne what an inspirational read! I do believe that we are called to make a difference, and that difference matters most when things are hard. I would love to think I can make a difference, I hope in some very tiny way my blog makes a difference, but I am inspired to do more xx #mg
I didn’t know about him. Thanks for sharing his story , Corinne. So inspiring. I too don’t know if I would be able to do it if I were in his place. I get anxious at the sight of minor troubles, I don’t think I could be so brave and selfless as he was. I think the world needs more people like him. We need to be more like him