Monday, July 13, 2009

The Patchwork of Life



One of my favourite songs on the "Borderless" CD is "PATCHES".

It weaves a pattern of the skills and knowledge that women pass on to their children, down through the generations. As with many of my songs, the lyrics that you see aren't always as simple as you read on the surface.

For example, these lines:

the patching of hearts the mending of minds
the soothing of bruising and words so unkind
the darning on spirits the stitching on souls
it's the patchwork of life as a family evolves

...speak of more than just the craft of patchwork. It seemed to me that different families have different ways of dealing with problems, different ways of communicating, different ways of expressing love. And these behaviour patterns seem to be repeated from generation to generation. Sometimes they work. Often they don't.

But if we want to change our world, it's a whole lot easier to do it one step, one individual at a time. And the best place to start is with our own family. After all, if we can't get it right in our own family, what hope do we have in the family of mankind? So maybe it means changing the way we communicate with our children, being open and honest with them, expressing respect and expecting it in return, forgiving and loving unconditionally. They're pretty good qualities to be passing on to future generations.
............................

Patches is best described as 'celtic jazz' with haunting celtic melody. The "Borderless" CD is part of the Borderless Project - a performance/workshop which explores the early settlement of Australia from a woman's perspective. It is delivered in narrative, song, bush poetry, anecdotes et al. The CD has an accompanying booklet with excerpts from the workshop.


1 comment:

  1. Very deep & very insiteful! Look forward to hearing it! Cheers, Wendy

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