Returning to the stadium
09/23/2022
After a three-year hiatus, tomorrow I will join the remaining alumni and once more take the field in Spartan Stadium.
The reunion of 2019, so soon after my near-death experience, brought me profound spiritual healing. I do not know how tomorrow will go, but I look forward to see the old sights and play the old songs once more.
Tradition is a powerful force in culture. As Americans, we are less rooted than other societies, but we still feel its pull. That is why we have our own unique rituals - largely secular, but mystical in their power to comfort us and create a sense of continuity.
The 2019 gathering marked the 150th anniversary of Michigan State Bands, and 900 seasoned musicians took the field in a major show of strength. Tomorrow less than half of that will show up, no doubt in part because so many older people have succumbed to illness.
And yet the tradition continues, and another link is added to the chain because it was ever so.
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