Dear Blue Knights Drum Corps

I wrote this open letter to the Blue Knights Drum & Bugle Corps from Denver, CO, on the occasion of their participating in the DCI World Championships in 2007. It was my privilege to have spent ten days with them in late June and early July traveling up and down the east cosat from show to show. This letter was placed on the food truck for all members to read before preliminary competition in Pasadena, CA..


Dear Blue Knights,

I know I’m probably just a blur to most of you by now…just one of the many faces on the food truck over the course of a summer filled with nondescript places punctuated by thoughts of “Remember the time when…” kinds of stories….

I only spent ten days with you, but they were ten days I will cherish forever.

As fate would have it, I discovered you were short a cook (or two) when GM was working with me on housing for the Beverly show, and so…I volunteered. Nobody could understand why a Massachusetts woman with seemingly no ties to a Denver drum corps would drop everything to cook for 170 people she didn’t know, least of all the Blue Knights.

Well, it’s all about taking chances….and being ready and willing to accept opportunities when they’re placed at your feet.

First, there are no accidents in life. Whatever “decisions of chance” brought you all together in Pasadena, California, each of you is there…in this moment… for a reason….to contribute something important to the whole, and in doing so, create the ultimate prize….

Synergy….when the whole is even greater than the sum of its parts….when you come together as one, connected at the brain and heart for the purpose of creating a single memory indelibly etched into your collective hearts and souls forever.

I challenge each of you to be in the moment….in the zone…live it….breathe it….and cherish the chance to find a way to become one voice, one body, one emotion…no longer individuals brought together by random choices, but a single entity that cannot be split apart. You are the only Blue Knights corps that will ever be like you….you are unique….and you are amazing.

The greatest gift you can give each other is the gift of synergistic performance….reach out to each other…find your soul connection and then touch the crowd with the power of that connection. Reach out to them, and bridge the gap between you and they….Honestly and intentionally invite them into your uniqueness….most people will tell you to think about it….I challenge you to feel it.

Don’t pretend to dance….DANCE….don’t pretend to reach out….REACH….challenge my emotions and make me FEEL a part of the performance….I don’t want to just witness your performance…. I want to feel a PART of it. Make all of us a part of it…That’s effect!!! Engage us!!!

I’ll be watching….reach out to me…and everyone who wants so much for you….go ahead…take the chance….you’ll never get an opportunity quite like it again.

For those of you who will age out and cross over to the dimension of spectator after Saturday’s Finals performance, seize these next few days, not selfishly, but with ultimate generosity….this time is more special than you know. I aged out nearly four decades ago, have since taught, managed, judged, and been involved with corps all this time, and the feeling is still the same. There is nothing better than being on the performance side of the line….nothing!

As for me, I’m glad I took the chance to be there with you, even for just a short time…I’m glad I reached out and took the opportunity placed at my feet. You’ve made a difference in my life, and I will be forever grateful. The reason I chose to drop everything was simple…I’d just been diagnosed with cancer.

I will get through it. You gave me the chance, and the will, to see that. I will take your strength, your conviction, and your passion with me on my journey over the next year, and I will “rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

There are no accidents in life….life is about opportunities and what you choose to do with them when they present themselves….

Now you have an opportunity at your collective feet….I know you’re ready…take it…embrace it…all of you as one…and “Rage, rage against the dying of the light”!

My fondest regards and deepest gratitude,

Linda O’Connor