Art is the Distance....

......Time gives to suffering. I read this once, when I was reading some Albert Camus. I struggled for years to understand it. In a vague way, I knew that poets suffered through their poems - "Do not go gentle into that good night" - and we know these poems now as Art - "Too much of love makes a stone of the heart."

Certainly painters have captured suffering for years on their canvases. Tragic plays re-enact the agony of moments in time and music mourns these moments in minor keys.

I have just seen an amazing tribute to suffering distanced by 17 years. Well, the musical debuted much earlier, but, it does take me a while to get around to "things."

"Come From Away" re-enacts in song and dance a combination of suffering and survival. It's hard to imagine a musical celebrating the re-routing of 37 planes that could not land in the US immediately after the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade towers. But this work of Art did, winning many awards.

I just wanted to give Newfoundland a great big hug, after the show. I tear up every time I think of the people of Gander, NL, a community of 6,000 people hosting 7,000 stranded passengers for 4 days.

Long live people with big hearts and limited resources. You show us what can be done with a little, actually a lot, of kindness!!

The picture? Not from the musical, but you get the idea!

Have a artful day!