[Dialogue] A Story

[Sunny Walker]

Priscilla, et al.,
I'd not heard that story when I was in Bosnia. However, my one regret at
being there (May-August, 1998, working with Susan Fertig Dykes at
introducing ICA methods into a UN funded "Safe Cities" project) was that I
came home without the photograph of the cellist at the concert he gave
inside the bombed out National Library which, books aside (and that is no
small aside!), was an incredibly beautiful and ornate piece of architecture.
There was, in that photo, a wonderful--if silent--accompaniment to your
story. I don't know if there ever was a CD.

Thanks for the memory,
Sunny

----- Original Message -----
From: "Priscilla H. Wilson" <pwilson at teamtechinc.com>
To: "OE Community" <OE at wedgeblade.net>
Cc: "ica Dialogue" <dialogue at wedgeblade.net>
Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2005 1:34 PM
Subject: [Dialogue] A Story


On Sunday afternoon, our choir, brass, organ and bells participated in
a hymn festival with the congregation, "Called to Sing the Song of
Hope." The hour hymn fest ended with our pastor reading the story I
have printed below, "the Cellist of Sarajevo." It was very moving...and
was followed by a cello solo. I am just sending it because I wanted to
share it with my friends and colleagues.
Priscilla

A hundred yards away lived a 37-year-old man named Vedran Smailovic.
Before the war he had been the principal cellist of the Sarajevo Opera
Company--a distinguished and civilized job, no doubt. When he saw the
massacre outside his window, he was pushed beyond his capacity to
endure anymore. Driven by his anguish, he decided he had to take
action, and so he did the only thing he could do. He made music. Every
day there after, at 4 p.m. precisely, Mr. Smailovic would put on his
full formal concert attire, and walk out of his apartment into the
midst of the battle raging around him. He would place a little
campstool in the middle of the bomb-craters, and play a concert to the
abandoned streets, while bombs dropped and bullets flew all around him.
Day after day he made his unimaginably courageous stand for human
dignity, for civilization, for compassion, and for peace. As though
protected by a divine shield, he was never hurt, though his darkest
hour came when, taking a little walk to stretch his legs, his cello was
shelled and destroyed where he had been sitting.

He played….It was just music
But in that music declared that warfare--
No matter what virtues war wears as a costume--
Warfare cannot win;
It was music that sang
inhumanity will not destroy that which is human,
That which is truly alive.
Day after day after day
He played his cello in the crater.  (22 days for the 22 deaths)
It was just music.
But it was prayer,
And it was hope,
And it was a sign that
Hope is stronger than fear.
And good is stronger than evil,
And life is stronger than death,
And no act of inhumanity can completely destroy
The God-given gift of being human.
I don’t know what melody he played.
But I’m sure it was the same melody sung by the hungry in line for
soup.
I’m sure it was the same song sung by children praying for the end of
war.
I’m sure it was the same hummed in Jerusalem and in Ramallah, in Sudan
and countless other places.
I’m sure it is the same that leaps from our hearts as we seek to lift
up that which is human.

  It was 4:00 so Vedran Smailovic played the cello.
It was just music.

*****************************
Priscilla Wilson
TeamTech Press
Mission Hills, KS 66208
913-432-2107
pwilson at teamtechinc.com_______________________________________________
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