So I went to a taiko drumming concert a few weeks ago and I cried during the first song. If you have never seen taiko drumming before, you should. The drummers throw every last ounce of their strength into the drums. If the drums were people, they would have broken bones. So why did I cry? The drummers cannot hold anything back. They have to pour out all their passion and all their emotion onto the drum or it wouldn't be taiko drumming. Whether it be unabashed rage or joy and elation, it is expressed to the fullest extent. So I cried, because, for the first time in a very long time, I saw the raw spirit of human beings. They had taken off all their propriety, all their fear of offending anyone, all their embarrassment, every single last veil covering humanity, and revealed nothing less than the full life and spirit within them.
So I've really been into lions lately. I like sending pictures of them to people to express how I'm feeling at the moment. But why lions? If you've ever watched a documentary of lions, or have been lucky to have seen them in person, you will have noticed that they plainly express exactly what is on their mind. If they are relaxed and happy with their company, you'll see them rub faces and curl up next to each other other. They'll yawn and stretch out without a care in the world. On the other hand, they don't not appear to hold back anger. I don't think anything in the world expresses anger like a lion's roar. It's like opening their mouths opens the lid to the pit of all their anger, and fear, and sorrow. I also love lions because they are social predators, like us. They are dangerous enough to take down and kill a wildebeest, and yet they can coexist in highly organized communities. They live among one another and build relationships with each other. You can see between lions the same concern, affection, and fear that we have between each other, but expressed much more plainly.
My favorite instrument has always been the cello. In my opinion, no other instrument can capture human emotion better than a cello. They resonate of sorrow, hope, fear, and satisfaction.
Why can drumming, lions, and cellos express our emotions so much better than we can? We have suppressed so much of our animal natures that we have become convoluted. We can only show passion through controlled outlets, such as drumming for an audience, or making other objects express our emotions for us, as is the case of many instruments and my using pictures of lions to get a point across. It's no wonder children are so interested in violence and war games, they have no other allowed outlet for anger and frustration. Obviously I don't think we should start brutally attacking prides that enter our territory and killing the cubs of previous males, but I do think we seriously need to find a way to fully express ourselves. I don't think words cut it, except for those few who have mastered the use of language. I was watching an episode of Super Nanny and the three young boys were having all kinds of issues with anger and closing themselves off to their parents. Super Nanny came up with a very simple solution. She taped popsicle sticks to paper plates and drew faces on the plates, each showing a face with a different emotion. When a boy would feel a certain emotion, he would hold up the face and show it to whoever he was speaking to to express how he felt. The boys started using them immediately, and within a few days the understanding between parents and sons had taken a full turn for the better. The point is that the kids needed pictures drawn on plates to show how they felt to their parents. Isn't there something wrong with that?
I don't really have any useful suggestions for this, but maybe it should be something that people start questioning. We can't all learn to drum, or play cello, or roar like lions.
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