Lesson of Forgiveness at Summerfest

"Wait, aren't they our enemies?"

This was Joshua's question to me when he recognized the Japanese flag in his notebook as we headed to our next "destination" to learn a new dance from the visiting dance teams from around the world at the Summerfest Youth Culture Event.

Just a few days prior, Jared was reading the book "Seven Miracles That Saved America" by Chris Stewart which led him to a youtube documentary to learn more about the Battle of Midway with Japan in World War II.  Joshua saw part of the video and remembered the Japanese flag and the heated naval battle with our former "enemies."

It was a great teaching moment to be able to explain to him that although they once were our enemies, we have forgiven them and now they are our friends.  This put his fears to rest and he had a great time learning to dance and drum with his new Japanese friends.

 Next we headed to Poland to learn the washerwoman play and some new lively circle dances.

At the end, we were able to watch the dancers from all of the countries perform in their native costumes to live music played on various instruments.. Then the kids joined them onstage to perform the new dances they had learned that morning.  I loved being a part of this fun cultural event and it brought back memories for me of the folk dance class I took during my first semester at BYU. I noted some differences between the cultural groups, the precision and discipline of the Japanese, the energetic enthusiastic flair of the dancers from Columbia, the calmer graceful movements of the dancers from India and the perpetually smiling faces of those from Basque.
As I watched the adults and youth from all over the world reaching out to the young children to help them on the stage and cueing them to remember the steps and be where they were supposed to be despite language barriers I felt an almost nostalgic feeling that made me think of how much more alike we are than different.  We have similar hopes, dreams, and desires for peace and happiness and learning and I could picture us all united without the language barriers as we were gathered together with our Father in Heaven before we came to earth preparing for our purpose here, to become more like him.