Pockets of humanity

The holiday season is the time of the year when our nature as social animals comes on full display. It’s the season when we attend the most number of festivities. The number of gatherings we grace with our presence reveals the number of communities we belong to.

The most basic get-togethers we go to in this season are our family and clan gatherings and the Christmas parties in our workplaces. Next would be church celebrations and school reunions. We also get dragged to school parties of our little kids. There are likewise subdivision or barangay holiday parties that we attend. Then there are gatherings of socio-civic associations we are part of. Lastly, there are social events of the sports, music, exercise, and other hobby groups we belong to.

No wonder we add unwanted inches on our waistlines during the holiday season because of the many occasions we load up on food and sugary drinks. No wonder as well that it’s called the happiest time of the year (in the Christian world) because there are just too many festive get-togethers where we reconnect with family and friends.

The holiday season reveals our place in the spectrum that has social animals on one end and anti-social creatures on the other. The number of community connections that we have—as shown by the few or many gatherings we attend this month—reveals our character and personality.

But regardless of the number of community connections we actively involve ourselves in, mankind is inherently a social animal. Our level of social involvement merely indicates whether we prefer to be passive or active participants in our connections with other people.

Any deprivation or limitation on any person’s social connections, self-inflicted or otherwise, leads to an unhealthy toll on one’s emotional health. On the other hand, a hefty dose of social life, nurtures one’s emotional well-being. People involved in many community connections are generally happier and more stable emotionally.

Our need for social connectivity is shown by the proliferation of religious, professional, charitable, sports, and hobby organizations that thrive with members in our communities.

During the pandemic, we experienced the most severe curtailment in our community life. Many people suffered emotionally as a result, and the negative impact of such social deprivation lingers to this day. Many others, however, found ways to get socially connected, by engaging in hobbies that became accessible through lessons offered online. One such hobby that sprouted and thrived online was interest in music, propagated by music experts who were the most severely dislocated during the pandemic. These music experts opened online lessons for voice and musical instruments, giving birth to groups that shared common interests. People learned voice lessons, while others obtained training in playing musical instruments. In the process, they got connected with groups who share similar passions.

One person who helped music enthusiasts flourish during the pandemic was Miguel Gacer. When the pandemic struck, Gacer was a young graduate of the University of the Santo Tomas’ Conservatory of Music, major in piano and minor in viola. He started offering piano lessons online because work in the music industry completely dried up. When his network of students expanded, he put up Forte International Music Academy and he invited other music teachers to teach voice lessons or to train students in instruments such as violin, cello, viola and others.

Even when the pandemic ended, Gacer’s music school continued to thrive with online classes.

For two years now, music students under Gacer’s academy have been getting together to share and showcase their talents in a benefit concert that raise funds for charitable institutions. I was fortunate to attend this year’s benefit concert that the group organized to raise money for an orphanage called “A Home for the Angels.” It was heartwarming to see and hear young students passionately showcase their talents for a very good cause.

It will be the proliferation of groups that come together, not entirely for business, but who additionally engage in socially uplifting pursuits that will get us out of the rot that our country is in. Like the music groups that have flourished under Gacer’s initiatives, we need a flowering of community groups that will be both pockets of happiness for ourselves and pockets of humanity in our communities.

—————-

Comments to fleamarketofideas@gmail.com