I have spent the past three months or so covering both Israel’s invasion of Lebanon and Gaza prior to that. I’ve written as many as four posts some nights. So much death, destruction and bleakness. Such senseless violence and waste of human potential. And it still goes on to this moment. And I will be covering it again tomorrow no doubt.
But for tonight, I wanted to write about something good, and true and heartwarming. Something not having to do with the Middle East. Something to do with two human beings and this blog.
I can’t begin to tell you the number of times that odd, charming and wonderful things have happened through this blog. The time when a former high school student of my deceased dad wrote to me after finding a blog post I’d written about him and his childhood in Haverstraw, NY. Or the time a well-liked high school teacher found this blog and regained contact with me. Or how I found a fellow, Mark Klempner, who I’d crewed with on Pete Seeger’s Hudson River sloop Clearwater in 1969.
And this piece of serendipity happened yesterday. I wrote a post some weeks ago about a deep, mysterious and powerful song I’d heard at a Kronos Quartet concert, Tusen Tankar (“A Thousand Thoughts”). One of my readers, Anais P., wrote an appreciative comment about how the song was one of the few pieces of music that would soothe her young baby:
Bonjour!
My name is Anaïs, I live in Montreal Canada. I heard Kronos quartet’s show on Radio Canada a few months ago and also fell under the spell of ‘Tusen Tankar’. I taped the show and listened to it a few times with great delight. I was pregnant during those listenings. My daughter has arrived 2 months ago and seems to have been touched by the music. ‘A thousand thoughts’ is one of the very few tunes that will calm her down when she’s crying. Thank you for the information about the song. I’ve been looking for the quartet’s version but no luck. Triakel’s version is wonderful. Thank you for helping me discover a new group!
I’m also happy to have found your blog and to know that I’m part of a great community of shared values of love, respect, kindness, peace and curiosity towards the world.
Have a great day
This comment was lovely enough, but more was to come. Yesterday, another reader wrote to say that he knew Anais long ago when they were in college. But that they’d both lost track of each other and that he wanted to get back in touch with her. I wrote Anais asking for her permission to put them in touch with each other. She responded by telling me about their “past:”
Bonjour Richard!
Wow it is odd! François is a friend from college that I haven’t seen in almost 13 years! When we were eighteen years old, we were part of a group of friends whom lost one of its members (Pierre-Yves a kind, gentle and spiritual person) in a car accident in the States. This horrible incident brought us all closer together and gave us, at an age when you think you are invincible, a glimpse of the fragility of life and the importance to make the very best of it. That moment convinced me that I had to leave something good during my time on earth and it totally changed me from an introverted and shy girl to someone who wanted to share and create links between people.
Ha–that this happens on your site is certainly what you call in English serendipity (!?). Life is great!
I haven’t visited your site in a while! My baby has started rolling over on her stomach and she’s likes being outside in the summer (like me!) so the computer hasn’t seen me in a while!
I hope you are well and that your family is happy and healthy! Thanks a lot for François email I will write to him for sure!
À bientôt!
I so love when blogs transcend the bounds of time and space and bring human beings together for good purposes.
