Excerpts from All Ways
Free Summer 1997. (Reprinted from All
Ways Free, Winter ‘88) - Written by Garrick Beck
Why should anyone want to go thru the 1001 tasks that are the
life-support system of the Rainbow Gathering? Hauling large rocks for bakery
ovens, digging & filling latrines, tending medical emergencies, installing
water pipe systems that need to be taken apart,…sorting garbage, not to mention
doing all this with the added difficulty of our own problems: upset or
belligerent people, alcoholics in rainbow clothing, rude or unhygienic
behavior; and sometimes with only minimal help or even opposition from the
public service of the government.
…
Why do it? Why face all the problems, all the maps &
mailings, all the fundraising for printing; all the long-winded discussion over
procedures; why consume all this time of our lives? For what? Why gather?
…
We are utterly capable of seeking and finding the pure natural
experience without subjecting ourselves to all this trouble. So why do we put
this on our shoulders and go on? Why do we do it? I mean: Why gather?
Because we
love each other. We really do.
Because we
are creating something new and beautiful….
Because we
hold the vision of a peaceful world in our inner eyes - in our hearts - and we make
it real in this outside world.
Because is
a thrill to experience a cooperative society.
Because only
when we take personal responsibility for the needs of each other - water, food,
security, fuel, healing, childcare and recycling - do we take mature
responsibility for our lives.
Because the
children need something gentle and loving to look forward to.
Because it
is important to teach and learn as much as possible about human cooperation.
Because we
are fed up with war economy & economic exploitation & political over
lording, and we want to try something else.
Because gathering
teaches thousands of people, even tens of thousands, respect for the earth, the
water, the plants & the animals.
Because even
the addicts, the dissolute, the spaced-out space cadets, the drunks who come
are in need of love, and every society must care for its own.
Because laughter,
music, celebration and rejoicing in life are needed in this world in great
measure.
Because gathering
unifies ancient tribal wisdom with current ideas and technologies.
Because we
want to inspire hope that it is indeed possible - and in fact pleasurable - for
people of all kinds to live in peace.
Because our
councils are open to everyone to speak, we hear ideas, poems, stories and wisdom
from the seven corners of the earth.
Because the
work and play-shops are education’s, the massage delightful, and the music rich
with interlace harmonies.
Because light
and life and love deserve to be celebrated by lots of us.
Because when
we hold hands in our circles we can feel the energy that moves the atoms and
the moon and stars.
Because gathering
teaches us to have faith, to trust each other, to believe in good and goodness,
and to have the strength - in the face of the rest of the world - to carry on.
Garrick Beck (1988)
