This. . .Is The Place – The Manchester Vigil – May 23, 2017

Tony Walsh – This . . .Is The Place – Poem given at Manchester Bombing vigil – May 23, 2017 – BBC5 Live –

Much as Past Daily is devoted to history and events of the past, sometimes the events of the present make you stop and leave you with a feeling of intense sadness and anger. The events of last evening have left with me with a profound feeling of loss.

I suppose this incident has affected me worse than other such incidents; not that the others are less despicable than this one, but that this took place in what I consider sacred ground. However you feel about Ariana Grande, or any current music for that matter, the bottom line is this; Music is, for many of us, the glue that holds us together, the common ground that brings us together; the notes and sounds that take us out of ourselves and, for however long it takes, brings us to a place of peace and happiness.

Music has a power to heal, to express feelings we are sometimes at a loss to convey – music is intrinsically linked to our higher selves. That middle area between our physical and spiritual natures. Music suggests the better things.

And when something as devastating as a terrorist bombing happens, an act that has no other purpose than to maim and destroy – and it is done in a place where there is music, it violates that place of peace, of solace – it rips apart the glue that holds us together.

I felt that way about the terror attack in Paris, at the Bataclan – how the ugliness and devastation took place in the midst of an aura of joy reminded me so much of that one.

And so it’s been a day of reflection and listening to reports, and being struck by the outpouring at the vigil which took place earlier today in Manchester – how a moment like this brings those with no malice or hatred together to reiterate to the world that we are not all like that; that we are all in this together. That we are facing life on life’s terms on a daily basis and all we want is peace and a sense of happiness to sustain us.

I was particularly struck by Poet Tony Walsh’s “This . . .Is The Place” – an affirmation and a re-dedication to the spiritual nature of ourselves and an emotional balm to those in anguish and pain over this day and the others just like it – and those days that will inevitably lie ahead.

I thought I would run it here, in case you haven’t heard it yet, but I suspect it will be a familiar piece in the days/weeks/months to come.

We just can’t forget who we are.

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