It was a long concert, but the organiizers wanted to be as inclusive as possible. Invocations from the Islamic, Christian, and Hindu traditions opened the concert and set the tone for the evening. We saw a young musicians collective of underserved youths perform right before an Indian sarangi master with a local ensemble. Carribean music next to Pakistani music. Personally, we didn’t last through the later Latino performance.

The audience was a loose assembly of Austinites united in their love for peace. There were the very young, the not so young and a sprinkling of young-at-heart older people like us. Did we create peace on that evening? Possibly not in the larger sense. But the peace and fellowship of those present was palpable. Ethopian and Latino food sustained those who came for the whole evening.

After a summer of drought the whole day had been blessed with heavy rain. Even though this may have kept some from venturing out, the rain stopped right at opening time. In the greater scheme of things the rain was another peace blessing.