I had the opportunity to hear Sister Helen Prejean (writer of the book Dead Man Walking), along with, music composer Jake Heggie and director Kelly Robinson in a panel discussion last evening. Sister Helen chatted with me about my teaching as she signed the inside of her book, The Death of Innocence, with the words, “Choose Life”.
She was such a strong presence on the stage, an extremely articulate and ‘immediate’ storyteller. I could only describe the encounter as ‘magical’ and filled with passion, intelligence and thought-provoking content. I wished very much that my children had been sitting alongside me. I believe last evening was for me, a life-defining moment.
Sister Prejean
Image from here.
Some of the words taken from my notebook this morning….no commentary will be offered on these….but I put them out there for you all to think about.
“Right relationships.”
“Live your life about essential things…don’t trivialize your life…be concerned with hearts, lives, doing things about anything ‘essential’.”
“We only change when we feel loved.”
“We are an unawakened society.”
A light hearted moment was when speaking of one of the musical motifs in the opera, Sister Helen broke into singing…
“My journey, my journey, my journey to the truth….”
Another, was when I had the opportunity to visit Jake Heggie personally, while he ate his jumbalaya (we were all served red wine and good cajun food….red snapper and jumbalaya) and he visited about his schedule….and the various events in other major cities leading up to the Opera. What an awesome evening!