THERE are things in life we don’t know where they originated from… may be a pandemic
virus or a word in a song we often sing.
How powerful is an English word? This is a question many users of English ask
themselves when they use a word for expressing their thoughts or emotion. Today
a drummer will drum in the streets to show his protest or to demonstrate his
support, a cyclist will cycle from one tip of the nation to the other, a runner
will run and tell the world his message… footballers raise pay cards in
stadiums and soldiers raise their nation’s flag to flutter their victory on enemy
soil. But we need words ... and we need words to express ourselves to others… “Kumbaya” is just a summation of three English words.
When a group of people "Kumbaya", what exactly is their expression all about? Originally, the "Kumbaya" was a folk expression…
one such word that expanded its tentacles to campfire classics. Then in the 1920s,
it was adapted as a negro spiritual. The first recorded evidence of this song
exist since 1926 and is on a wax cylinder preserved in the American Library of
Congress. The expression "to Kumbaya" is for the
English words, “Come by here”, as spoken by the Negros. And it was used to
compose a Christian evangelical worship song.
The warmth and the closeness one feel when we “Kumbaya” is magical.
Have you ever held hands together around the fire and said “Kumbaya” with your
best friend? If you haven’t, please do it! As the sun wakes us up every morning
and if there is a great sense of helplessness in our daily actions when the
path ahead is unclear, any believer needs the personal closeness of God, that’s
the “Kumbaya”… it is a mystical fusion of oneself with his God. “Kumbaya” can cross
the spiritual borders , if there is a deep relationship between those with whom we “Kumbaya". That is where this expression becomes intimate around a campfire or
across your best friend, standing close in your arms.
But why “Come by here”? Why not “Come here?” … There is a big big difference in
it, isn’t it? “Come here” can be
anywhere here. But when you come “by here”, your stand close to the person you
are coming to. Hence “Kumbaya” is a close proposition between you and the
person coming near into your… it is not only come by here, but it is also merging
in the closeness of devotion and love … it is a synergy of friendship between a
helpless friend and a powerful friend. Our
"Kumbaya" moment is a moment of infusion of love and closeness with God Almighty.
But the words and expressions have their weaknesses when they are imbued into the mainstream, political or civil usage. The expression "Kumbaya" is one of them. When we like to agree to disagree and go ahead peacefully with someone, a single word which the liberal and civil population can express is “Kumbaya”. Outside the borders of Christian spirituality, "Kumbaya" comes easy for civil rights protesters, pacifists and new generation resistant activists. But strange enough, this has discounted this powerful Negro English expression. It has become a weak expression and is a term of derision on the streets, as in English media and literature.
You
will not see “Kumbaya” in the Merriam Webster dictionary because “Kumbaya” has
not become an English word yet. They have placed it in the “Words We're
Watching” list. But for me, “Kumbaya” is one of the greatest expressions of
intercessory prayer…. and a one-word English expression of friendship.
Come, let’s “Kumbaya”….
