An Ohio Chautauqua (Lakewood) Reflection...

What a wonderful week this has been for Lakewood.

The older I get, the more I realize in life what a continuum that the concept of "time" really is. With the prestigious Ohio Chautauqua event that transpired in Lakewood this past week, we were transported vicariously into another moment in historical time, and yet, was it REALLY another moment in time, or is time, indeed, timeless?

If you were there on Saturday or Sunday evening, you saw me, for example, playing my late uncle's ancient antique banjo, made in England, many, MANY years ago. I learned somewhere that the factory that built that banjo was destroyed by bombs during WWII, and yet in many ways, the company that created it, (as well as my uncle's passion for playing it) lives on in me, with what I did with that instrument in leading songs for the hundreds of people who were in attendance on those evenings.

Certainly, "President Lincoln" and the other characters portrayed by those magnificent historical actors involved each lived on with the presentations that we viewed this past week..and now they will be moving on to only four other Ohio towns this summer, to regale other fortunate Ohioans with the magic of America's past...

A special thank-you too, to Lakewood's youth groups who were involved in the presentation of some outstanding musical performances prior to the speaker presentations. Thanks too, to the many volunteers involved with the Lakewood Historical Society, the Kiwanis, the schools, and anyone else whom I may have missed here.

The struggle for equality and human rights lives on in our country and around the world of course, making the experiences of each of these actors, actresses, and musicians all the more poignant and timely, as the lives and times of the Civil War came back to Lakewood.

Time can indeed be timeless sometimes.

This event was quite the proverbial feather in Lakewood's cap. Thanks again to all involved who pulled together to make all of this happen!