Listening to memories

Today, at the Lunar New Year’s festivities, I learned how to create origami fortunetellers and was able to teach many other people. Something I found so charming about the whole experience was that many of the people that came by the table were either very young or were parents. Many of the older people were commenting on the nostalgia of when they were young, making fortunetellers just like their children. When listening to their memories, it felt very wholesome. One parent said it brought her back to elementary school, playing games and folding fortunetellers. I thought it was so heartfelt that she was able to relive those moments with a simple origami piece. Another child was absolutely obsessed with creating fortunetellers, it was quite hilarious when his grandmother stacked at least 8 of them and was trying to convince him to leave. Everybody was so friendly and excited to make the origami pieces at the table, many of them stayed for over 10 minutes.

I want to challenge myself by putting myself out there. As a volunteer, I want to reach out to more people and make sure that Hibiki’s message is received by many people who also love music and who will support young musicians. I think that Hibiki’s mission is so wonderful and I hope that I can help spread that to others. At the event on Friday, where Spirit Of Japan hosted us, I saw so many people in the audience who enjoyed the music. On Saturday, at the Lunar New Years celebration, one older lady sat at the performance the entire time which was really so sweet.

I think music is really beautiful and it really brings people together. Even if you have nothing in common with the person next to you, you both still love the sounds you hear. When I was at the event, many people gathered around to listen to the music playing. It was a lovely experience to see both young and old watching and listening to the musicians perform. I believe music can create a community that is open to everyone and it’s something that anybody can enjoy, which is so powerful.

Juniper W.

9th grade