Last night, on our little island of Kauai, there was a fundraiser for local public radio station, KKCR with Makana and Buffy Sainte-Marie.
I adore Makana; I have seen him play several times and enjoyed every moment. To a sold out crowd, this one man and his golden guitar, filled a whole auditorium with awe. There is a dance between him and his guitar; there is a soul communication that is sheer beauty to behold, and he is only getting better.
I went to the fundraiser with a dear friend, to see Makana. I admittedly did not know who Buffy Saint-Marie was. By the end of her first song, I wondered how I hadn't known her. Not only is she responsible for endless songs I do know and love, but she is a kick-ass performer. At 68, she tore up the stage with her energy, her vivaciousness, and her Cree cries pierced through a veil that baffled, and dazzled a Celtic Caucasian like myself.
I found that my hurried mind was stupefied by brilliance. When Makana manipulated his guitar into a Hawaiian waterfall, I was no longer thinking about how I was going to spend my time at the end of Spring semester, or how I was going to afford the endless list of travel destinations I had in mind for myself. In fact, I involuntarily gasped at the melodies cascading over us.
When Buffy played with a fire that most twenty-somethings cannot comprehend, and with a tenderness that is only from wisdom, I no longer wondered what I was going to do to jump the next phase of my work, to get to the next level of an illusioned race, or how I was going to achieve my self-imposed accolades. Rather, I thought: I need to fill my mind with greatness.
The stars that "make it" - and my stars, may not be the same as yours - serve to remind me, that with heart and action, they do it. That's it. Heatbeats and footsteps. One at a time. One after another. In the light of their brilliance, I resonated my own brilliance; I did not shirk into questions or doubts.
So not only did I receive an amazing night of musical mastery, but a reminder to be responsible for my own environmental diet: to surround my mind with greatness, to perpetuate its own.
