Celebration!
In my line of work and amongst my friends, we often approach the Solstices and Equinoxes and other holidays very seriously. We create rituals and ceremonies. We get quiet, meditate and focus within, diving in to understand, transform and even manifest of our deepest desires. That is all well and good, but sometimes we just need to break out of that contemplative shadow work and rejoice.
I got to do that this year in a totally unexpected and absolutely delightful parade and festival in Santa Barbara, CA. This is the 49th year of the SB Summer Solstice Celebration and the theme was “Roots.” Everyone can participate and everyone does! Local art schools and circus performers and even the Vedanta Temple created colorful floats. Some citizens built personal floats. Some folks slid into the parade as it passed by. Some stayed on the sidewalks in butterfly wings or mushroom hats. People applauded and danced. The parade ended with an uphill climb to the Alameda Park filled with vendors of trinkets and crafts, food trucks, a beer garden, and bands. A young poet sat at a typewriter and dashed off lines written to a prompt. It was a brilliant sunny day and color color color! So many smiles. So much laughter.
After June Pride Month, we should all have a heightened awareness of the challenges our Queer community faces every day. As more and more of us make ourselves and our individual weirdnesses visible, we see that there is no “normal.” We are an incredibly colorful and diverse species, and absolutely every one of us has something to contribute to the health and well-being of the planet and all creatures on it.
Sometimes I feel like I am preaching to the choir. Everyone reading this already agrees with me. Except that we are not all actively expressing our colorful uniqueness. Now is not the time to be timid, or mousey, or bland, or camouflaged. Now is the time to “let your freak flag fly.” Be visible. Be outrageous. Let others understand who you are by your presence. Especially if you come from a segment of our culture, as I do, that is not beset with bigotry and hatred, find the courage to take a stand for what is actually American: “…certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” “with liberty and justice for all.”
As we evolve as a society we read the texts of two-thousand years ago and two-hundred years ago with new understanding. We update our ideas as science and archeology unearth new treasures. Let’s celebrate our diversity with inclusion. Let’s each be our own perpetual Solstice Parade. Let’s each be “too much.” It’s time.
