Narratives are very powerful. They give meaning to our actions, they lead us. A very powerful narrative is the Christmas narrative. It has all aspects of a great film: a couple are looking for shelter, they are migrants. She is pregnant, but not from him. Where ever they knock on the door, they are turned away, until one guy offers them to join his animals in their shed. The child is born in that shed at night, a big star shines on the sky. Shepherds from near fields come to celebrate, same as three wise men from the east, lead by the star. And the angels are singing.
This narrative has so many aspects, that you can use it for many purposes. For centuries, people adjusted it to their local traditions all over the world. In Germany they added the christmas tree, in the USA they added Santa. The elves are from Scandinavia.
This year I like to turn to the star and to the three wise men from the east. There was a bright star in the sky, and the wise men followed that star. Some days ago, Saturn and Jupiter were as close as they haven’t been in 800 years. In meeting in the sky, it looks like they melt together to one big star. Some people suggest that it was the same kind of conjuncture more than 2000 years ago.
It must have been a very lonely journey, when these wise men followed the star. They must have been traveling for many months with lots to endure. But they went on, and they preserved their precious gifts. They must have believed very strongly that they would meet their destination, without knowing exactly what to look for.
In the last 9 months, working in the live music business felt as a pretty lonely and long journey too. We do have the promise of vaccines now, like a star on the horizon. But we aren’t there yet. It will still take some very difficult and lonely months, before we can enjoy live shows again without social distancing.
Thinking in these lines, I am wondering what the destination is of our journey. It doesn’t make much sense, if we just end up where we started. Now is the best time to think about improvements of art, of the business, of our role in it. Do you want to make changes, that you never even dared to dream about? There is no better time to work on it, than in the coming months. Follow the star of your dreams.
Merry Christmas, and let’s all sparkle in the new year.