Dear colleagues,<\/p>\n
A rare, quiet weekday morning. I\u2019m sitting on my front porch before my sons wake up. And before the atypical mid-April heat burns off the morning\u2019s dew. The trees have just begun to bloom. It\u2019s heavenly.<\/p>\n
As I delight in the glorious shades of green around me, an old song from my childhood comes to mind. It\u2019s a song I sang as part of my temple\u2019s junior choir in the mid-1970s. Initially I remember the melody and just a snatch or two of lyrics. Some internet sleuthing eventually leads me to a few recordings and the full lyric. It\u2019s called \u201cThe World Goes Rolling On,\u201d written in 1968 by Gershon Kingsley and Robert C. Larimer as part of the just-then burgeoning movement to contemporize Jewish music for a new generation of American kids and young adults whose vernacular was folk, pop and rock. It was included in a Jewish Sabbath Service called \u201cShabbat for Today,\u201d commissioned, as it turns out, by a temple just 45 minutes from my own. After traveling the Reform Jewish circuit, it found its way into the repertoires of public middle school choirs, some of whose renditions can be found on Youtube.<\/p>\n
Depending on one\u2019s disposition, the song is either corny, dated and sentimental, or sweet, poignant and hopeful. In these perilous times, and, for me, coming out of a winter of loss, I find it to be all of the above.<\/p>\n
Babies are crying and there\u2019s no one to listen
\nAnd old folks are dying and there\u2019s no one to miss them
\nBut still the world goes rolling on and on
\nStill the world goes rolling on<\/p>\n
Bellies are growling and there\u2019s no one to feed them
\nAnd people are howling and there\u2019s no one to lead them
\nBut still the world goes rolling on and on
\nStill the world goes rolling on<\/p>\n
Mankind is yearning for a human equation
\nAnd slowly we\u2019re turning to the new generation
\nAnd still the world goes rolling on and on
\nStill the world goes rolling on<\/p>\n
We have a vision of a world without chaos
\nA practical vision because with or without us
\nThe world will still go rolling on and on
\nAnd we would like to ride along<\/p>\n
The Valencia conference, just two months away, will find us in the midst of great challenge as we struggle to \u201cconfront the intrinsic impact of the sociopolitical on our psychic lives,\u201d in the words of the conference description. Extremes of all kind surround us and likely inhabit us these days. The possibility of new beginnings mingles with the anxieties and burdens of our world. The Jewish concept of tikkun olam<\/em> comes to mind, the call to repair and improve the world. \u201cWe have a vision of a world without chaos.\u201d We will gather to grapple with \u201cthe other\u201d both without and within. I look forward to seeing many of you there.<\/p>\n This month\u2019s edition of The IARPP Bulletin <\/em>features updates from a few of IARPP\u2019s leadership committees and reports from several chapters.<\/p>\n If you would like to inform the IARPP community about your recent publications or presentations, please send the following materials by Sunday, May 28, 2023<\/u><\/strong> to me at MattAibel [@] gmail.com in order for your news to appear in the June edition of The IARPP Bookshelf<\/em>:<\/p>\n
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Matt Aibel, LCSW