Old people love young people.
Time stops for us when we see a fourteen/sixteen year old collecting his wits and budding skills to produce a sound in a public setting. This audience is all smiles; with not a bit of malice or criticism toward them. Why, some are reminiscing about their own experience standing in front of an audience of strangers playing together in a band for the first time. The body language is mostly the same, stiff, hesitant, swaggering or downright trembling with fear. I'm guessing the young man on the cell phone while his colleague is making announcements is the least fearful of this audience.
We have learned to recognize most of our fears in our recurring dreams, in the underlined and repeated conversations with each other, in the packages of supplies we stock up just in case.
Guessing the fear in the faces of these young people is easy enough. At their age, I recall few clear paths out of fear, except to listen to adults and practice. Obedience and shame worked wonders at keeping fear at bay.
16 comments:
Old people DO love young people and wish them well as they and we face our fears and learn from them.
You are right about young people .. they energize and inspire .. give us hope for the future.
(I was concerned about you when I read about the storm in Port Orford)
And still we fear...we never learn not to.
Our two boys were each in Jazz band. We followed them to contest and watched them grow up. The did gain confidence from it as they played in championships in large auditoriums. That seems like a long time ago but it is always fun to see and hear live music.
I would be nervous too, group looks pretty intimidating.
smiles...pretty cool to see them achieving and facing those fears....
It's lovely when young and old interact with one another.
Maggie x
Nuts in May
Intermingling of the generations is a good thing.
And oh, those recurring dreams! Four years into retirement, I am still dreaming about work.
I enjoy young people, too -- so many memories come tumbling back.
In my dream I'm usually the only one naked in the crowd!
Hi Rosaria .. that looks a lovely gathering ... the home crowd - the parents, grands, friends and then the performers young and sure ...
Lovely to be with them and to cheer them on their life's journey .. Hilary
Nice little slice of life, and yes, it's heartening to witness those just starting out, on the precipice of all the disappointments and triumphs and seasoning experiences.
Ah if only they knew how harmless an audience we are, and so generous.
You are such a good observer, Rosaria.
This is such a great observation. I love how you can read people. I remember that as a teenager, I was especially smitten by the idea of being on stage. I followed my dream and took the drama class. The awkwardness was palatable when I had to kiss a boy on stage. He was more awkward and hesitant than I. The drama teacher said we must act as if we enjoyed it. I laugh as I think back to the experience. I remember we had to keep practicing! In the end, he turned out to be great kisser, and we both were much more relaxed on stage until we had an audience other than the teacher. Then, the awkwardness reappeared. Oh, the memories.
I love it when good stories about youth are told...so many bad things in the news drowns out the good most days. They may be nervous but they are there and will be better each time they do this! My Mom always told us to just "do it" when it came to the hard stuff of life..she said that long before Nike ever did! I still need to overcome fears many days but somehow they pass.
I agree with your insights, Rosaria. I enjoy watching young people at school concerts and talent shows. They are finding their expressive voice and how to be in this world through the confrontation with performance fear. It's amazing to watch!
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