KNOCK, KNOCK

  Almost the last few words spoken in the play Come from Away, it made the point of the play. First, a quick review and a suggestion. It was great, fun, serious, hopeful, with hints of what was to come. Suggestion: go see it, at the Broward Center thru Nov. 17 and it will be at the Kravis Center as well (check for date). What I loved about the cast, other than their acting, singing, good cheer, audience rapport, was the fact that they were not the usual youngster cast one sees so often on stage. These were people well distanced from the teen years, even the twenties and more. Yet their energy was amazing, along with their talent and enthusiasm.

Caught by surprise, as was the entire world, the Towers tragedy forced 38 planes, over 7,000 people, to land on Newfoundland, swamp the little town of Gander along with the rest of the island. Instead of whining, moaning, cursing their fate, these people immediately swept into action, taking from their own pocket, and opening home and heart to the stranded passengers.

Based on fact, small vignettes were reenacted through song and careful words. The warmth was there, along with the sour and acidic signs of the hate that was to come and is still with us. The sentiment of "come from away", is that of welcoming all, for all, each and every one of us has come from away at some point or other, or our families did. Sometimes both.

It is a sentiment that once ruled this country, America, even as it continues to rule Gander and its citizens. At a time of crisis they were able to put aside the struggles and strife of the island and turn to the task of aiding the stranded, going so far as to make them feel at home, so much so that friendships were generated that have lasted for years. Return visits, funding of scholarships, and perhaps, just perhaps, left a spark of welcome and warmth that might strike a chord somewhere within Americans today. Once we too welcomed those come from away, etching that sentiment on a great big green lady in NY harbor. Yes, there was always anti immigrant sentiment as well, but the mix of Americans continued, allowing for absorption into the American cosmos.

Today we have instead embraced difference, an emphasis of differences which has cut a huge wound in our country. Have you ever heard someone say a Greek-Frenchman or  Somalian- Spanish? No, for they are French. Or Spanish. Or Greek. Or whatever. But they are most emphatically not hyphens. Period. So why has America increasingly stressed the hyphens, capitalized the differences, and forgotten that bottom line, we all came from away; we all became Americans - or should have. But that thought, that idea, is so buried deep under overlaying layers of hatred, intolerance, isolationism, selfishness, that even its echoes grow fainter and fainter.

Come from away needs to grow within our society. It should be a theme of the education within schools, shouted from the rooftops, printed in the media, a theme online, whatever it takes. We need to stress the positive rather than the negative, the sins of the past by people of the past, a past and a life structured on different mores. Stress instead the fact that America has come a long way and will go further - if we all share in the come from away sentiment and direction.

Perhaps oversimplified, with many hurdles and blockades newly grown or allowed to grow, but it can be done. If that small group of people on Newfoundland, in that small town of Gander and the rest of the even smaller places could do it ,then so can we. So must we.

Oh, why the title? Here it is. The question was asked why the people of that wonderful island were so bad at knock, knock jokes. Here is the explanation.

Knock, knock

Response: Who's there? Come in, the door's open.

'Nuff said.