It is my great pleasure to welcome you to our Candlelighting ceremony. This is one of my favorite traditions at BC because it is a convening in which our connectedness is on full display. Students (across all grades) and alumni, faculty and staff, parents and guardians, illuminate the BC candelabra from a common light, representing our common bond throughout the seasons and the years. And so it does my heart good to see you all here together.
I recently read an article that asked readers to contemplate the best or most memorable gift they had ever received. I am fortunate to have enjoyed many wonderful presents over the years; consequently, it would be hard to name the all time, definitive best. But one gift that I remember cherishing, and that I still enjoy, is Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life. Released in 1976, this was a double album that also included a small EP and a 24-page lyric book. The presentation was unprecedented and, debuting at #1 on the Billboard 200, this musical masterpiece would go on to win Album of the year at the Grammys. It was quite the phenomenon in my neighborhood as well and I had to have it. When I found myself with my mom and my aunt in the record section of their favorite department store, I let it be known that Songs in the Key of Life would be the perfect gift for me. Generous but practical, my mom hesitated. I was pretty young and this album was almost fifteen dollars–the equivalent today of seventy-eight bucks. My aunt Glady was older than my mom but more like my older sister in some ways. She’s the one who convinced my mom to let us go see Jaws (I was wracked with terror for days) and she was the one who bought me the album.
I listened to this record incessantly and my friends and I created dances to some of the tunes. We would go door to door on our block, play the chosen song on our neighbors’ record players, and perform our choreography in their living rooms. On one of these occasions, we were using my friend Kim’s copy of the album and somehow I dropped it on the sidewalk when we were going from one house to another. The disc shattered and I was sick with remorse–both at the accident and at the immediate realization that I would need to give her my album as a replacement. Despondent, I handed my copy over to Kim (whose parents weren’t to know about this travesty because she had been forbidden to take the album out of the house). My family was gracious and forgiving by nature but I was pretty certain that I would not be receiving another seventy-eight dollar (adjusted for inflation) album anytime soon.
Happily, and much to my surprise, I was wrong. Both my mom and Glady said that they would buy another copy and they did so cheerfully. Rather than scold, they encouraged me and the shows went on.
Deemed by the Library of Congress in 2005 a recording of cultural, historic, and aesthetic importance, informing and reflecting life in the United States, Songs in the Key of Life embodies the creativity and community shared with friends and families who lived on my block. It reminds me of the generosity and forbearance given with such grace by my mom and my aunt. These are the greatest gifts of all, conjured each time I listen to this wonderful album–a treasure in its own right.
In the warm embrace of family and friends, may you experience music, dance, joy, and generosity in abundance this holiday season.