To dance?

When we do our Beats 4 BEAT (2) concert on Sunday, August 17th it isn't a negation of the horror and tragedy of the world. Nor is it a diversion or a distraction from the pain and suffering of others. That will never change. No, when we play - and celebrate - and have fun together, we do it as a part of the sacred whole. Just as there is day, there is night. Just as there is pain, there is joy. Just as there is war, there is peace. I have come to believe that in the midst of anguish, perhaps the most faithful form of resistance and renewal is... to dance (and sing!) 

How did Elie Wiesel put it: we are born with a MAD desire to dance? What does the wise old preacher of Ecclesiastes say: there is a time for everything under heaven... including a time to mourn and a time to dance? What did the boss in Zorba the Greek, after all the tragedies of life, including the loss of love, wealth, status and his beloved's life, say to his old peasant friend at the close of the film?
I used to think it was sacrilege to celebrate while others suffered. But now I know that to ignore their suffering is the sin, never the dance. Indeed, some times the only thing we can do is to dance. We have to wail and protest and mourn, too. But without the dance, we become cynical and defined by the evil rather than the blessings. In times such as our own, when human brokenness is trumpeted all day and all night as reality, it is a moral imperative to reclaim the song and dance with all the madness in our soul.