Living Arts Weekly: The Great Realisation

May 10, 2020

Hi Everybody, and Happy Mother’s Day to everyone who is a mother, acts like a mother or has a mother!  This blog is a bit different from what I imagined for a Mother’s Day post.  However, I really wanted to give you a gift.  The gift is also a bit different from what you might expect.  It is a gift of an inspiring video that many of you have likely viewed already.  If so, now is your chance to view it again and really take in the subtleties and nuances.  If you have not seen it, enjoy!  It came out about two weeks ago and is spreading quickly.

Called The Great Realization, it is a poem written and read by Tomos Roberts, a young New Zealander now residing in Great Britain.  He is actually reading it to his younger brother and sister (you will enjoy their cameo appearance at the end), and it offers hope for a future transformed by how we change our ways of living as a result of the current situation we are in.

https://youtu.be/fxbu74aZGh8

It will be relatively easy for some to scoff at this story – believing we are too far into materialism and greed to make significant changes.  However, are we?  Doesn’t significant change always start with individuals who decide they are going to do something differently?  I hope in a future post we can explore what that might look like.

For now, let me share a few quotes from the young man who made this video:

“From what I know of the past, there have been some incredibly dark times that people have been able to overcome.  All I think it takes is to be able to access a ray of hope – it doesn’t have to be a big amount.”

“Let’s think constructively: Are there steps that we can take as individuals or as societies that would lessen the suffering of people and increase the joy? If you were going to aim for something, I think that would be a nice place to start and you can see what happens after that.”

So, what do you think?  Are you game for exploring the possibility of change?  All of us know that change does not come easy; in fact, it can be quite difficult, wrought with challenges and challengers.  When many of us think of returning to how things were, only now with large numbers of new restrictions and strange social forms, then “getting back to normal” loses its appeal.  It is not time to “get back” to anything; it is time to “move ahead” with the hope of representing what is good, what is beautiful, and what is true on behalf of our children.

For those of you interested in knowing more about the making of this video and it’s young creator, here is a link to a short and inspiring interview.  Perhaps it can be the icing on the cake for our celebrations today:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=12329669

Blessings to all,

Cynthia