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When Buddhists Invade Philly
I want to share with you some bits of one of the most amazing weekends of my life participating in the Rock the Era Youth Culture Festival with my Buddhist group SGI (Soka Gakkai International).
I sang for 11,000 people! I was one of over 2,000 youth performing around a personal determination to make a peaceful world by realizing our full potential and helping others do the same. Apart from being an incredible personal experience, it reinforced a couple of key ABCD concepts. In short, for me this is an amazing example of what ordinary people can do based on personal passion and unity.Initiated in January, these 2,500 total youth performers and the festival coordinators became ready in just 6 months. The theme was , Dream Big, Change the World and involved groups such as Taiko drumming, band, chorus, dance, and gymnastics. Last weekend these youth (ages 12-35) came together from all over the Eastern US and solidified one unified performance. Many started with NO training or experience (including coordinators!), and many were not connected to or aware of this organization before January. Many have very little access to money but, determined not to miss the festival that meant so much to them, they found the resources. My group of over 100 youth performers and participants from Florida travelled approx 24 hours by bus to get there.
One of the lessons from a community stand-point is, when ordinary people are impassioned and working together with one another, they can do just about anything. Having what seems like nothing at the beginning doesnt have to be an obstaclerather it can spur people to pool their resources and pull out resources they didnt even realize they had.
Secondly, this festival speaks to the capacity of youth to organize and lead powerfully and effectively when they have the opportunity, and when they have encouragement and support from older adults. The festival was organized with youth (people aged 12-35) in the leadmaking key decisions, spearheading all different aspects of coordination, and of course, performing.
The final lesson is that voluntary community groups like those based on faith can have incredible impact on the lives and futures of young people. In the same way, community groups can creatively and effectively impact many other pressing issues facing our communities. Through this event, youth learned major life lessons, brought out potential, skills and aspirations that were never before called upon, and made lasting relationships with people from different age groups (including men and women), social and economic backgrounds. Perhaps most importantly, they adopted and strengthened a philosophy of personal responsibility for making the world what they want it to be and of doing this in unity with others, even when its tough.
Based upon shared values, the gifts and capacities of members, and strong person-to-person relationships, voluntary groups are a major resource for realizing change locallyand globallyand should be considered in discussions of how to tackle the problems that face our communities.
As youll see below, the festival was a huge success with amazing turnout, wonderful performances, and many personal breakthroughs. This was the last of three festivals with a similar theme held in Western, Central, and Eastern parts of the US. You can read more about the Festivals/movement here.
CHORUS
singing If Youre Out There - http://vimeo.com/13662976 (lyrics)
Finale / Chorus Rise - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIZtpwL2k0Y (this is the last part the video
doesnt capture whole song, which was composed and written by SGI youth members)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kls_p29bGT8
Poetry Performance - George Yamazawa shared his story of overcoming drug addiction/entanglement and bursting forward in a career in his poetry. This is the poem he shared.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlZb9T3oFSw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv0RwNClGBI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Drh2QJkaEPs
dance
Hundreds of behind the scenes young men and women who took responsibility for the safety of all participants and the success of the meeting. This aspect also organized by youth themselves.
(for more info on SGI, visit www.sgi-usa.org)
This is really cool April. I like the links to ABCD principles that you pulled together. Very insightful and inspiring.