I hate crowds, which isn't much of a statement since I really don't know too many people that do like them. However, there are a few specific contexts where a crowd is tolerable, nay, enjoyable.
I had the absolute pleasure of attending two evenings of Edmonton's annual Folk Festival this past week and found that I was positively thrilled to be crammed into a city park with 12,000 other folks. However, it got me to pondering about why this very same group of people would have been downright annoying if we had all simply showed up for picnics at the same park at the same time, or if we were waiting in line to buy an iPhone4, or even if we had all been milling about a shopping mall. Okay, perhaps the answer is quite obvious of why watching Van Morrison or Ben Harper with 12,000 people is preferable to shopping with them, but its more than preferable, even more than fun. I found myself giddy with the delight of sharing this experience with a good chunk of my fellow Edmontonians. So much so, that when I lit my candle* with the flame of the stranger's next to me, and she commented, "Now, we're friends forever", I felt like this was true and I wanted to run and share my flame with everyone around me and make more friends.
I don't have any big object lessons or words of wisdom to share about this (apart from the obvious exhortations to let your light shown rather than hiding it under a bushel). But I do wish my enjoyment of large amounts of people wasn't so context-specific. I wish that, when being jostled by crowds, I would be more inclined to lend a light (or a penny or a smile) rather than a grimace when I get an accidental elbow in my rib, or I have to slow my walking pace when stuck behind others, or any of the not so great things that come with crowds.
* The Folk Fest passes out candles to festival-goers so that when the sun goes down, the hillside is lit up by thousands of tiny points of light that create an amazing atmosphere - even Ben Harper thinks so.
2 comments:
I'm old school, a flame will ALWAYS be more intimate, more calming, and more charming especially when it comes to music rather than holding up a cellphone. Ben Harper seemed genuinely touched by the actual candle flame and not the usual cellphone light that has replaced the flame in the past 5 years. It makes all the difference at a concert.
Having the candles and asking a stranger if they could share their flame also broke barriers and made you talk to a stranger which made the place even more friendly. The candle made the evening(s) interactive, communicative, and people centered.
Thank you folk fest for the candles.
I don't generally like crowds, either. Some places more than others. But I think the dynamic of the crowd really influences our perceptions of it, and therefore how we react to it.
There can be a sense of unity at things like concerts. Or the first really hot day of summer at Hawrelak. Or in a specialty class you're taking. It's not just a random milling around of people in the same space. It's the gathering of people in the same space who share just a little bit of the same taste for music, or sunshine, or art.
And I say there CAN BE a sense of unity, because I was recently at a Capital Ex concert with a group of people in the same space, with the same taste in music, and that was not a crowd I'd care to be in again. ...So what caused the lack of unity there?
...I don't have answers either. It really is context specific. I guess if we enjoyed all crowds equally, there would be no special memories like a candle-lit Ben Harper evening. It would stand out no more or less than moving at a turtle's pace behind bag-laden shoppers at West Edmonton Mall on Christmas Eve. ...How would we ever experience great joy in and appreciation of crowds without experiencing some great frustrations along the way?
Post a Comment