Purpose
To try to plant "a seed of thought" as to one more excellent way in which a community can further unify itself and enrich its life-experiences -- by turning itself into a "bell-community" -- among a nation of bell-communities (with bell-towers and such, perhaps, sited at local colleges and universities, memorial parks, city halls, county seats, state capitols, and the like -- typically funded by donation drives).
Let me tell you a little personal story and tell you what I make of it. But, first, I can't resist noting that:
Life, to me, is one great, big, wonderful chain-reaction -- connecting the very first humans with the very last -- determined, in very large part, by what we each do or refrain from doing to it. Our every act -- good or bad, large and small -- ricochets along that chain -- changing the great human network and common life-experience -- for better or worse -- far beyond any horizon we ever get to see -- and for long after we have even forgotten that we so-acted.
From the moment any of us were born, the world changed, for better or for worse -- but change, it did.
Background
Not so long ago, my sister, Dianne Nelson Watkins, greatly aided by our brother, Alan, was instrumental in bringing back to musical life, the 17-story-tall bell tower complex -- which had stood as a silent, conspicuous, beloved landmark over both the Virginia Union University (VUU) campus and the Richmond, Virginia skyline -- for well over 70 years -- since Belgium awarded it to VUU, at the outset of World War II.
During the 1939 World's Fair in New York City -- the art-nouveau building complex and bell-tower constituted the Belgian pavilion and had contained a complete 35-bell carillon, which rang out over the Fair.
Rather than risk returning the pavilion to its homeland, under threat of war, Belgium offered it as a gift to the United States. The bell-carillon was separated from the tower and presented to former President Hoover, in gratitude for his invaluable service to Europe's recovery, following the first World War. President Hoover then gifted the carillon to his alma mater, Stanford University -- where it still rings out over Palo Alto, California, to this very day. ====>
The rest of the pavilion and tower, minus carillon, was awarded to VUU, following a nation-wide competition. Our adopted father, Dr. John M. Ellison, was VUU President at the time and was responsible for winning the competition and for funding, moving, and installing the former pavilion onto the Richmond campus. But, he never got to hear the tower's voice ring out over its new Virginia home. And, neither did anyone else, until 2011 -- 32 years after his passing -- for the great human chain-reaction continued, just as it was supposed to.
In 2004, Dianne formed the organization "Bells for Peace, Inc." (website linked here) and began the arduous, 7-year funding effort for restoring the bell-tower to full service and to fulfill our father's vision of a full-throated bell-tower; to provide for perpetual maintenance of the tower and related buildings; to increase the availability of scholarships; to give any and all other needful forms of material and symbolic support for the Institution -- AND TO FURTHER CHERISH THE UNIVERSAL IDEALS OF WORLD PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP -- as reflected in its very name, the "Belgian Friendship Building."
On a dreary gray day in November 2011, the northern section of Richmond heard, for the first time, the sonorous voice of the tower which had stood silent sentry for so long. It stunned all who witnessed it that, at the very moment the dedication ceremony began, the sun and blue sky broke through, to crown the special day -- a most thrilling and providential-seeming spectacle worth noting -- similar to what happened during President Lincoln's second, Civil War-closing inaugural address -- uttered in 1865, the very year of the University's founding.Long may that tower ring out over that eastern land -- and harmonize with her sister Institution in the west -- and with those in between.
In My Opinion
1. Bells have long been symbols of human civilization -- as emergency signals and as a means of ordering life-routines among a people -- as an early means of summoning the religious-minded to take or refrain from taking some form of action.
2. Carillons and campaniles evolved to organize the musical quality of bells to produce and broadcast complex, beautiful music -- both religious and, now, secular in nature -- within reach of their sounds -- thereby distinguishing and delighting the community, within hearing, and raising its self-awareness as a distinctive, unified, far greater thing, than would otherwise be possible.
3. And, they can be and are used -- to symbolize messages worth proclaiming and feeling from deep within -- such as this link to The King Center suggests, as but one vivid example.
4. Music so often beautifies and cleanses the soul -- and bells might do that to the soul of an entire community -- and perhaps, some day, even to an entire civilization.
5. I can imagine a world where bells and carillons have been planted, in or near, all communities -- and tastefully employed to further beautify the life-experience and strengthen the sense of oneness and belonging. And, at appropriate moments, perhaps all communities' bells can be coordinated to ring in honor of the universally-valued ideals -- throughout an entire land.
6. Holiday music, for example, when sounded out during their seasons, can be an exhilarating and moving feature to enrich the quality of community life -- stimulating excited appreciation for the meaning of the moment.
7. Educational institutions, that possess carillons, bless their constituents and surroundings with a stronger sense of their important presence and function -- for they promote school spirit, add deeper meaning to the overall learning experience, and remind the larger community of their presence and crucial, eternal contributions to the culture and, indeed, to the entire species.
8. Helping to better regulate a community's collective activities. If agreeable, bell-signals can alarm the people as to emergencies or other urgent calls to action, as well as the start of civic events (like City Council and special meetings, fairs, festivals, farmers markets, sporting events and victories, mourning periods, patriotic events, etc.) -- the imagination is the limit.
8. Some ancient things are well worth preserving and glorifying and using. I would like to see and hear such in my own home city -- and I envy those places that have already blessed themselves in this enduring way.
Symbolism has much to do with being human and with bettering the conditions for living well -- privately and when more than one person is involved.
Let all good chain-reactions continue...crowding out all the bad ones.
David Nelson
All Original Content © 2014 , The MENTOR Enterprises / ELMS, All Rights Reserved -- BUT, I hereby waive those rights, to this extent: You may freely copy and pass this along, if you think it will do some good -- as long as it's free of charge, unchanged, and you include this statement.
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