There is something rather strange going on.

Besides being Pagan, I'm also a musician. I play bass guitar and do some back-up singing in a couple of different bands. My brother and my children, along with many of their friends, are also musicians. Something we noticed a couple of years ago was that the entire music community for our city seemed to splinter pretty badly. There were several factors - the city had decided that anyone under the age of eighteen was not allowed to enter a business whose primary source of income was from alcohol, and that stopped about half of the local bands from being able to play gigs anymore. About the same time, several of the more popular local acts headed out west to try and get that "big break," - they all came back home, wiser and probably a little more jaded (if you're wondering who they were, it was Pillbox, happyendings, and Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin. SSLYBY is still out there, working hard to make a name for themselves).

Well, yesterday in my daily cruising of the 'net, I ran across a series of posts on one of the local boards about band ettiquette. Besides being a really good discussion about what's expected when you play a gig, it was civil and somewhat reminescent of "the good ol' days," which are approximately five to ten years ago. I thought, "how odd - pretty much the same time our Pagan community started drifting apart."

That's got me wondering now. Was the whole "splintering" effect a city-wide phemomenon? Maybe across the nation? What happened in that time frame that would have caused an entire region to start backing away from each other, no matter what their affilliation?According to people who study these things, there are two occurrences that bring people together - a common enemy or a common goal. I know in the past when the Pagan community has had the ability to focus on a common goal, we have achieved great things. I know that focusing on a common enemy brings a lot of anger and discourse into a group, and while it may unite people for a short time, eventually all that anger starts getting turned into the group, and that's never a good thing. So here's my theory:

I believe that the events that occurred on 9/11 created an atmosphere of "us against them." War mongers and demagogues have been riding that wave for the last seven years. We as a nation are getting really tired of feeling like we have to be on guard all the time and angry with the world. For crying out loud, we all have to live here - we might as well get along with each other! Anyway, every medical study in the world can tell you that living under large amounts of stress on a constant basis is bad for your health. I think we've finally begun to realize that and slowly - VERY slowly - we are starting to come back together, not just as one group or another, but as people seeking other people's company and support. We're tired of being alone. We're tired of looking for the boogey man behind every corner.

If we can reunite under a common goal (not succumbing to the horrendous economy and surviving these hard times) and rise above the hate-mongering, I believe we will be a stronger people for it. Not just as a community, but as a nation as well.

It's time, folks.