Yoyo Ma, Bringing Us Together

“Culture – the way we express ourselves and understand each other – can bind us together as one world.”  Yoyo Ma

No matter how backwards looking the political trend is, there seem to be so many other things happening in this country and around that world that are moving us forward to be more compassionate and inclusive humans beings.

I sat sobbing at my computer this morning,  watching the video of Yoyo Ma playing Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 and the simple yet powerful imagery of the music reaching across oceans into the intimate lives of people around the world connecting us all.

I was crying because I saw myself in the video.

About two weeks ago I was looking for some new music and found Six Evolutions, Bach Cello Suites by Yoyo Ma.

I never listened to a lot of solo cello music, I always found it too depressing.  But this record  was different.  I couldn’t stop playing it or wanting to hear it.

Last night, when I was making potholders, my studio even more inviting by the darkness that filled the windows, I was listening to the  Bach Cello Suites.  And when I looked at the potholders at the end of the night, I felt I could see the music in them.

Then this morning, I was catching up on my email and saw the message that Janet sent me over a week ago.    I clicked onto the link of the Yoyo Ma Video and watched it for the first time.  It was the same music that I was listening to the night before in my studio.

That’s when I saw myself working in my studio last night, as if I were one of the people in the video.

I imagined the music flowing in my closed door, wrapping around me like a dance partner, then leaving through the window, binding me to everyone else around the world who was listening to the same music.