An incredible thing happened this morning. On a beautiful spring morning in April, about one hundred and fifty people came to a hole in the ground in the middle of Camden to celebrate. Yes…this hole, now filled with bricks, stones and broken sewer pipes would soon be known as the Waterfront South Theatre. People from all backgrounds, races and religions came as the ground was blessed, speeches were made, and all watched as the ghosts of the past returned to celebrate with the youth of the future as a new” temple of inspiration” was born.
As I stood in the hole and watched as the dust of generations covered my newly polished shoes, I thought out of the corner of my eye that I saw my grandparents. Walt, holding his familiar bar towel and Sue wearing her more than familiar apron were standing side by side in the blinding sunlight. I could see them smiling with pride as the corner that they used to raise four daughters and eight grandchildren again burst to life with the color of art and music. I also saw the ghosts of shipbuilders past, the men who built the ships that left port for war after endless war, standing guard around the perimeter of the building; watching with crooked smiles as their old neighborhood returned to life. I saw Sr. Peg Hynes grinning that wide Irish grin as she stood among the high school and elementary students who now , through this theatre, now have a newly found hope that their future can be as bright as the morning sun on this glorious April day. As Father Doyle blessed the ground one could hear the laughter of angels, as so many have already have, and continue to descend on this once forlorn corner. All will be made new again. “The stone that the builders rejected HAS become the cornerstone”.
I went to wipe the dust off of my shoes after the ceremony only to pause for a second……and then change my mind. This dust was my grandfather’s dust….these rocks were his rocks. All of us should always be proud to walk in our grandparent’s shoes wherever those shoes collected the dust of their lives.
Art will save us. Heal Camden!!!!!!
