Rainbow Songs

Enough time has passed for me to start seeing what I expect to see, within the narrow band of the visible spectrum. I have been very busy. Our brand new world is starting to look a lot like the old world in my eyes, and the high rise buildings have faded into the background of my perception. 

Before this, for a brief moment, I saw a wider spectrum of possibilities. So much new information was bouncing off the back of my eyes I felt like my brain was stretching and my old habits did not serve to make sense of what I was looking at. Then I got busy, and so tired that I began using my prior beliefs as a sort of shortcut so I could focus my energy on a monsoon-like deluge of increasing responsibilities. Time for a rainbow. Time to remember what is possible.

Every new world has a beginning in the worlds that preceded it. While the story told by the indigenous people of Malaysia stretches far back before recorded history, in Forest City, everything seems to be happening at once. It isn’t only the construction. While the high rise buildings are anchored to the ocean floor, the surface of the land is constantly shifting. After a hard rain the sand will settle, and the ground will shift to expose cracks on the surface of roads and walkways. Last year, they had to resurface the bottom of the swimming pool at my school so that it would hold water. The point is, everything is happening so fast, I wonder what will last. 100 years from now, we will still be the first people to live on this island. If the island is still here or not, what story will there be to pass on? What if the city never comes close to the marketing hype?  What will the city be like, and what will our culture be like? How will the people show that they respect and care for one another? 

During our staff orientation week I posed the question in terms of how we could work together as a learning community to pass on a story of value to future generations. As we explored the question together we thought of many aspects that would need to be considered, identified the ones we thought were most important, and came to consensus in the process of naming groups of related ideas. That was about two months ago. 

Since then we have settled into a routine. The people are becoming familiar to me, and I have begun to see them as I expect to see them, no longer with new eyes. What is their heritage? Who are their ancestors? What wisdom moved them to come to this place?  What songs will there be to pass on the legend? While the new construction fading into the background sets the stage for our heroes to emerge, I do not see them through the lens of familiarity. I need to hear their voices.