Sioux City, Iowa – Thousands descended upon the Tyson Event Center here on Saturday, March 19, 2011.
Our hearts and souls supple from lives of longing and lonesomeness. Our minds pliable, searching for sovereignty, seeking sureness, sojourning sorrows.
All the lonely people cryin’
It could change if we just get started
While waiting for the opening act, the sold-out crowd bears down behind me, in front of me, surrounding me as a massive congregation.
Elated conversant screams sprinkle their chit-chatter. A Christmas morning thrill intersperses a heightened murmur penetrating thick air.
Light the darkness, light a fire
For the silent and the brokenhearted
This unholy assembly, I included, is banking on the arrival of greatness, soon, very soon. We count down the minutes, our eyes pace back and forth over the stage, trying to detect movement of any kind that would herald the arrival.
When the walls fall all around you
When your hope has turned to dust
We are a communion of saints and sinners, desiring to be bathed in a river of hope, knowing we came in broken, anticipating we will leave whole.
The show eventually began at 7:30, but it’s going on 9 and the main act is nowhere to be seen.
There’s a comfort
There’s healing
Although that doesn’t seem to matter much. A sacred anticipation carries us from opening acts Casey James to Little Big Town.
And then it is done. With a bounding force of music and elated cheers, Sugarland’s Jennifer Owens and Kristian Nettles appear on stage, front and center.
High above the pain and sorrow
Won’t you stand up
Jennifer’s satiny, bounding vocal performance, as a blessing, impeccably and lovingly preaches reconciliation and salvation.
Any tiredness we hulled into the arena flew away on her very first note. Kristian’s rough, ready chorus solidly backs up her anthems.
With so much exuberance, we can’t sit still and will gladly stand for the next hour and a half of the show.
Stand up, stand up?
Won’t you stand up you girls and boys?
I will remember this night forever for …
…the penetrating perfume of the young woman sitting next to me.
…the praise music of this country band.
…the worship tones, raised hands and swaying bodies of this crowd.
I will remember this night forever because I never expected a concert venue to feel so much like a worship hall…because I went to the well empty and left full to overflowing.
(Lyrics: “Tonight” and “Stand Up” by Sugarland)
2011 © Copyright Paula Damon. A resident of Southeast South Dakota, Paula Bosco Damon is a national award-winning columnist. Her writing has won first-place in competitions of the National Federation of Press Women, South Dakota Press Women and Iowa Press Women. In the 2009 and 2010 South Dakota Press Women Communications Contest, her columns took five first-place awards. To contact Paula, email boscodamonpaula@gmail, follow her blog at my-story-your-story.blogspot.com and find her on FaceBook.
Friday, April 22, 2011
All the lonely people…
Many years ago during my career as a newspaper reporter, I was assigned to the night police beat in Sioux City, Iowa. During that 3 to 11 p.m. shift, I’d go down to the police station and comb through police logs for any kind of mischief people intentionally or unintentionally got themselves into.
There were the usual incidences of assault, theft, disturbance of the peace and other felonies you might expect. Occasionally among the more serious offences were humorous ones that made me chuckle and wonder.
To this day, police logs fascinate me. Like a diary of untold lives, each entry is a biography of the life and times and the Joe Shmoes and Suzy Ques caught in the act or being good neighbors by reporting their suspicions.
The most benign entries were similar to these found in a small town police log...
4:18 a.m. – RP advised his neighbors are “revving up their vehicles.”
8:05 a.m. – Reporting party (RP) advised of criminal mischief done to a planter near the playground.
Then there are the police calls that really make you wonder what people were thinking…
2:49 p.m. RP advised she was away from home and thinks she left on her car’s headlights parked by her garage. RP requesting an officer run by and check.
4:28 p.m. – RP advised there is a man that has been standing by her back gate for at least an hour. RP stated he will hop and jump around and act like he is conducting a choir. RP stated she’s not sure if he’s high on something or intoxicated. He’s wearing a green jacket, a bright yellow shirt and blue jeans and has black curly hair. RP requesting an officer.
5:46 p.m. – RP advised he wanted to give the officers a copy of an email that he received today asking him for money.
9:10 p.m. – RP advised she left her electric blanket on and she’s out of town and is requesting assistance to turn it off.
Some calls for law enforcement intervention are strictly family matters…
9:00 p.m. – RP advised she hasn’t seen or spoken to her sister all day and would like for an officer to try and find her.
11:20 p.m. – RP advised his wife was being a fool. She was intoxicated, yelling at him and telling him that he’s no good. RP requesting some assistance.
Still there are many others that come from a dark lonely place that only seeks to be seen and heard. A place that’s tired of being invisible…
9:48 a.m. – RP advised she received a letter in the mail and she would like for an officer to look at it to see if it’s a scam.
7:38 p.m. – RP advised she had observed three juveniles on skateboards go down the middle of the street. She advised one of them was on his stomach.
There were so many calls like these to the Sioux City Police that the department looked into what was driving them. Their goal was to reduce the waste of costly resources for situations that did not necessarily require police action.
What the department found was basically people are lonely and their calls for police are a coping mechanism to chase away the blues.
It’s an underwritten story of the lost and forgotten down the street or next door. If only we would reach out more often, acting as the host in our own neighborhoods. Checking in. Bringing well-wishes. Ringing the doorbell until someone emerges. Letting the phone ring until someone answers. What a difference that would make.
“All the lonely people…where do they all come from?” “Eleanor Rigby” The Beatles
2011 © Copyright Paula Damon. A resident of Southeast South Dakota, Paula Bosco Damon is a national award-winning columnist. Her writing has won first-place in competitions of the National Federation of Press Women, South Dakota Press Women and Iowa Press Women. In the 2009 and 2010 South Dakota Press Women Communications Contest, Paula's columns took five first-place awards. To contact Paula, email pauladamon@iw.net, follow her blog at http://my-story-your-story.blogspot.com/ and find her on FaceBook.
There were the usual incidences of assault, theft, disturbance of the peace and other felonies you might expect. Occasionally among the more serious offences were humorous ones that made me chuckle and wonder.
To this day, police logs fascinate me. Like a diary of untold lives, each entry is a biography of the life and times and the Joe Shmoes and Suzy Ques caught in the act or being good neighbors by reporting their suspicions.
The most benign entries were similar to these found in a small town police log...
4:18 a.m. – RP advised his neighbors are “revving up their vehicles.”
8:05 a.m. – Reporting party (RP) advised of criminal mischief done to a planter near the playground.
Then there are the police calls that really make you wonder what people were thinking…
2:49 p.m. RP advised she was away from home and thinks she left on her car’s headlights parked by her garage. RP requesting an officer run by and check.
4:28 p.m. – RP advised there is a man that has been standing by her back gate for at least an hour. RP stated he will hop and jump around and act like he is conducting a choir. RP stated she’s not sure if he’s high on something or intoxicated. He’s wearing a green jacket, a bright yellow shirt and blue jeans and has black curly hair. RP requesting an officer.
5:46 p.m. – RP advised he wanted to give the officers a copy of an email that he received today asking him for money.
9:10 p.m. – RP advised she left her electric blanket on and she’s out of town and is requesting assistance to turn it off.
Some calls for law enforcement intervention are strictly family matters…
9:00 p.m. – RP advised she hasn’t seen or spoken to her sister all day and would like for an officer to try and find her.
11:20 p.m. – RP advised his wife was being a fool. She was intoxicated, yelling at him and telling him that he’s no good. RP requesting some assistance.
Still there are many others that come from a dark lonely place that only seeks to be seen and heard. A place that’s tired of being invisible…
9:48 a.m. – RP advised she received a letter in the mail and she would like for an officer to look at it to see if it’s a scam.
7:38 p.m. – RP advised she had observed three juveniles on skateboards go down the middle of the street. She advised one of them was on his stomach.
There were so many calls like these to the Sioux City Police that the department looked into what was driving them. Their goal was to reduce the waste of costly resources for situations that did not necessarily require police action.
What the department found was basically people are lonely and their calls for police are a coping mechanism to chase away the blues.
It’s an underwritten story of the lost and forgotten down the street or next door. If only we would reach out more often, acting as the host in our own neighborhoods. Checking in. Bringing well-wishes. Ringing the doorbell until someone emerges. Letting the phone ring until someone answers. What a difference that would make.
“All the lonely people…where do they all come from?” “Eleanor Rigby” The Beatles
2011 © Copyright Paula Damon. A resident of Southeast South Dakota, Paula Bosco Damon is a national award-winning columnist. Her writing has won first-place in competitions of the National Federation of Press Women, South Dakota Press Women and Iowa Press Women. In the 2009 and 2010 South Dakota Press Women Communications Contest, Paula's columns took five first-place awards. To contact Paula, email pauladamon@iw.net, follow her blog at http://my-story-your-story.blogspot.com/ and find her on FaceBook.
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