While My Ukulele Gently Weeps

Over the last week we’ve had a sad little storm in a tiny teacup. My uke playing brothers and sisters have been duking it out over a message requesting support for the Ukes for Troops program. The problem wasn’t the request for support or the program – I don’t think any of us would argue that a ukulele in the hands of a hardworking soldier is a bad idea. The problem was that the request included an inflammatory signature line – “If you don’t stand behind our troops, you can stand in front of them” -  that offended many of our members.

Shortly before the 2000 election I attended a uke players party. I had a Kerry/Edwards sticker on my case, since covered by one about civil rights. I set my case down on the back porch next to a senior gent who’d slapped a W sticker on his case. I looked at him. he looked at me. I went to get something to drink, to thank the generous hostesses, and then, sat across from the W voter for the better part of the afternoon. We did not discuss politics. It would have been completely, totally, inappropriate. Instead, we played and sang, all of us, together.

When the Ukes for Troops message was posted to our list, a handful of folks posted thoughtful, well worded responses. They regretted that because the program had been politicized, they could no longer support it. They suggested that the poster might want to reconsider her language when asking for support. A few folks shared stories about their military service and mentioned that they were really sad that our community had become polarized by the discussion. The moderator stepped in, suggested we stay on topic (ukes, ukes, more ukes), and removed the political discussion. This incurred the anger of another member, who posted a less carefully worded response. In the midst of all this, the writer of the original message issued detractions – I didn’t post it to your list, I removed the inflammatory language from subsequent posts, no one ELSE complained… and so it went. The moderator stepped in again in response to another well written message requesting we be allowed to discuss the issue. Our moderator suggested that we needed to focus on the issue at hand, no name calling, no finger pointing, no “I know you are, what am I!” comments. I particpated in this conversation once, making the classic “reply all” gaffe when I responded, briefly, to a poster to say thanks for the thoughtful post. (Disclaimer: I paraphrase all of this, of course.)

I suppose this is a problem when any organization gets large enough to include vastly divided view points. And the timing is tragic, we’re just a few days out from an election and emotions are running high. But it makes me really sad to see it unfolding. We tend to be a sensitive, well behaved group. I’ve had the good sense not to play “Let’s Drop the Big One Now” at open mic and while I’ve had individual conversations with my fellow players about politics, they’ve been private, not public. This kind of heated dialog isn’t something our association is known for.

Our instrument has been a great leveler. It’s cheap, it’s not that hard to play, even pros with remarkable talent tend to be modest, friendly, self deprecating folks. If you’ve got whopping great ego, you are NOT playing the ukulele. And everyone is welcome in our group. With 30 bucks or a gift from a neighbor who’s cleaning out the basement, almost anyone can get their hands on a uke. That incredible accessibilty makes it possible for anyone and everyone to join us. So anyone and everyone – Republicans, gays and lesbians, Hawaiians, Jews, nudists, engineers, kids, retired ladies in pink lipstick, some random dude from out of town – DOES join us. It may be why I keep playing my uke. It’s not so I can sing in the kitchen, though I do plenty of that. It’s so I can get a big hit of the universal kindness of my uke strumming fellow man.

I hope that this is just a passing storm cloud over our otherwise beautiful community.

Cue “Over the Rainbow.”

[tags]Ukes for Troops, ukulele, politics[/tags]