The Meaning of It All
USA | Wednesday, 14 May 2014 | Views [96] | Scholarship Entry
My feet unconsciously placed themselves,one in front of the other, as I marveled in awe, jaw slacked, at the passing conversations, buildings that reached into the clouds and furious yellow bullets. I felt a match lit at the core of my body.
Matching beat for beat, my heart sped up to keep in line with the powerful percussion that had formed out of thin air.
Boom-ba-boom ba-da-da-da-boom!
I felt the sounds become liquid against my skin, persuading my arms and legs to move on their own.
And then I saw them. Four men and one boy, all with rich colored skin and simple clothing, mostly white, in stark contrast to their own appearance. Each drum in beat with one another, the group swayed back and forth, perched on a stairway, prompting their disheveled braids to knock against their ears and cheeks before swinging back out again. Eyes closed and faces relaxed, they did not need see one another to stay in sync. Stationed in the midst of human chaos, they were together in a world of their own and belonged only there.
Spirit jumped from their hands to their drums fashioned from buckets and cans and produced a sound that could only be found between families, friends and generations who have known each other for years.
These five men held a knowledge of one another that I craved to understand and longed to be a part of. It was the perfect display of passion and acceptance and I knew I would cherish the memory as my father’s hand gripped my own and his momentum glided me away from the crowd that had formed.
A few feet away I strained to hear remnants of the ongoing performance, waiting for the occasional shout and wail to sound as if their souls were about to leap from their mouths and up into the air at any moment!
Years removed, I crave the energy I felt on that day. I felt like somehow, this is what life was all about; the experience of something so powerful that it fills us with a wealth of indescribable feelings and an energy that wipes away the surrounding world so that we have no choice but to focus on the present. Moments that are so profound that they transport us to a world of our very own where we can sway in a silent understanding of one another, rejoice in the happiness of being alive and indulge in the passion coursing through our veins.
Tags: 2014 Travel Writing Scholarship - Euro Roadtrip
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