Too much instrumentality, loosing sight of joy

On Sunday at the Angelica Cantanti concert, one of the seniors read a very well-written reflection on what his years in the choir had taught him. As I recall he prominently mentioned the ability to focus, the discipline, and contribute to the good of the whole. These are all very valuable lessons and everyone was impressed with this statement and his poise and making it, myself included.

The next morning though I discovered in myself a bit of sadness in recalling the young man's statement. To be fair, he was writing in response to a question on a college entrance exam. Nevertheless it struck me that his answer was very instrumental. He spoke of what he had learned of what he had gotten out of the experience that would be valuable to him in the future.

I thought to myself where is the sheer joy. I would rather have heard the young man say, "I'm delighted to have been in Angelica Cantanti all these years because making beautiful music together with a bunch of people is more damn fun than a barrel full of monkeys.