It's an art project. It's a music project. It's a lesson in culture. It's a geography lesson.
What begins as a cork and a piece of PVC pipe turns into a weapon to wage peace. American kids are taught how to make flutes. They decorate the flutes. They then learn how to play the flutes. Their final lesson teaches them about the children who will be given these flutes that the American kids have worked so hard to make.
The Southern Philippines are front and center in the war on terror, where weapons to wage peace are in short supply. The Abu Sayyaf is known for bombings, killings, kidnapping, extortion and assassination. Word has reached villagers that there is a price on the heads of two Americans, who have come bearing these very special flutes. The threat is serious enough that the military isn't taking any chances and has made it clear that the pair may not to go outside the wire. Security has also been beefed up to protect against snipers, who could wreak havoc in just a few minutes if they were able to get up in an elevated position with a clear view.
I was at the original meeting in Ojai at the film festival where John Zeretzke met Sir Edward. He was attending a screening of Beyond The Call, a film about Sir Edward's work around the world, bringing relief to some of the most dangerous places on Earth. John was impressed and wanted to collaborate with Sir Edward, so they began exchanging telephone calls and emails. Two years later, they are here to support operation SMILE, which will perform operations on a number of children who have been born with cleft palates.
The founder and creator of "Flutes Around The World" is convinced that his flutes create the bonds of peace, because he has seen the barriers melt away. He has seen hearts touched. He has seen how important each flute becomes in the hands of a child to cut away the threads of bondage, of tyranny. Sir Edward is also a believer in the effect that music and medical relief can have to change hearts and minds away from involvement in taking up arms. Today, they are visiting a school with a heavily-armed military escort to deliver flutes that have been made thousands of miles away to children who are often hungry because of the scarcity of resources in the area.
A convoy of vehicles transports the flutes to their destination. Weapons are already unholstered, rounds are in the chambers, and the safeties are off. The bounty on the Americans has made many of the armed escorts question the value of the music lesson that will be delivered today. These are hardened soldiers, who have experienced being shot at and never hesitated to return fire. They speak freely in the company of civilians, whose mission has put the soldiers at risk. Clearly, they don't see the importance of delivering flutes.
Zeretzke has taught music all over the world and has learned how to reach kids with his teaching methods. In this impoverished region, it doesn't take much to break through, because these children have not had any exposure to other cultures. Just the promise of someone coming has been keeping them beaming for days.
The presence of people who kept their promise and are now in the room has them grinning from ear to ear.
The kids politely wait while the preparations are made. John explains that two identical flutes were made by children in America, flute buddies. One as a gift for them, and the other one remaining with the child in America. There is something very powerful about two children half a world away making music on identical instruments. Each of the flutes that John shows the kids has a photo attached to it of the artist in America, and the flute bears the symbols and artwork unique to that artist.
The children come up one by one to pick out their flute. Many of them look at the artwork that decorates the flute, but many of the children look only at the photos of the American kids attached to the flutes. There is no rhyme or reason to the selection each child makes except that he or she feels a connection to the particular flute that each has chosen. Each child gets their photo taken with their flute, the principal and John Zeretzke, while sixteen heavily armed soldiers encircle Ed, John, the principal, teachers and kids ready to defend against the threatened attack.
Every single child is taught the basics of how to use their flute. John teaches them a simple song that brings back memories in his own life. You see, a musician had shown John a few of the basics on the violin. Until then, John had been an underachieving student who struggled with the visual method of teaching. Those notes opened a whole new world to John. He taught himself many of the violin techniques that other students learn from a music teacher. Since John is an auditory learner, he connected with music and was able to play by ear. Prior to that basic instruction, he was going through the world frustrated and blind. That single lesson opened up the world to John, literally, and now here he is, a world away.
This day has brought with it students who connect with John's lesson, and they begin pushing beyond the scope of it almost immediately, because they, too, are having their world opened up. When John asks the principal what she thinks. Words struggle to come out, because she keeps choking up with tears. The most vocal soldier, who saw this as a waste of time, tears up too. When a tear streams down his face, he pulls out mirrored sunglasses to mask his emotion.
The mastery of a few notes of music that brought hope to Zeretzke as a child now brings hope to these children, to their teachers, the principal and even the soldiers. Ed and John also witness the transformation of everyone involved, as they have previously witnessed in other countries and other classrooms around the world. Children everywhere are simply children, and they share being childish no matter what the language, culture, religion or color of their skin.
Today, the chord that rings true for everybody present resonates within each of his or her humanity. This chord inspires hope. What begins as a single note turns into an entire class playing that note, then other notes, then entire chords and finally a song. What began as art, music, culture, and geography has turned into a lesson in teamwork. No one will ever know the full impact of today's lesson, but everyone involved has come away with renewed hope that a better world is written in our DNA if we can all just begin singing or playing from the same sheet of music.
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