What Shall I Do?

As I compose this, I am not many hours away from boarding the airplane that will take Beverly Vander Molen and me to Sarajevo, Bosnia. I face eight days filled with youth camps, concerts, encounters with musicians and hundreds of young people. The greatest difference from this trip and any other trip I've ever taken is undoubtedly the unfamiliarity of the culture and its people. Unfortunately, news stories about war and poverty, and human aid commercials for hungry people can't prepare me for this amazing experience. I have realized the significance of this chance to sing to folk who have known more suffering in the last several years than perhaps I will ever know in my life. Because of my ignorance about this country and people, though, I find myself riddled with questions. What do I say? Will they see me as a stupid American? Am I hopelessly naïve about these people and their conflicts? What right do I have to be on this trip? Am I simply using up valuable resources? The list goes on.

In the midst of all these questions, I want to hear the words so badly that I sometimes just say them to myself "Sing, silly, just sing." Music, when people make it together, has the power to induce a kind of unity, or at least understanding, which may not even be able to be verbalized. We don't have a concrete name for what we have experienced together or what we feel when we see each other, but we know that we are different toward each other somehow. If I can keep in mind that my task is not to be massively literate about life, war, and aftermath in Bosnia, and if I can focus on the task of helping people make peaceful music together, perhaps I will be useful. This is not to say that one should not be politically and socially informed. I believe most Americans including yours truly are woefully ignorant about what is happening in the rest of the world. But if I wait until I know all that I am supposed to know I will never be ready. So I will go to Bosnia, make music with children and youth, sing my best music to whoever shows up at concerts and do my very best to be awake. If you have any bits of wisdom or insights about the region and its people please do send them along. I'll report when I get home.