Be an Angel

Look at this photo and what do you see?

Look closely…a crowd of spectators, lights, some guys on stage with instruments.

Yes, it’s a rock concert — this one was Green Day at the Sports Arena in Los Angeles, the City of Angels, in April 2013.

Look even closer, you’ll see some of the audience with their hands in the air, the band encouraged us to do so. PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!

Look as close as you possibly can, you might have to squint or zoom — here I’ll make it easier.

See those big guys at the front — the ones in the yellow and blue shirts and jackets marked “Security?” It’s hard to tell, but these dudes could easily make up the defensive line of a football team — but beneath the Security jackets, I’m pretty sure I was witnessing the work of angels.

What’s that you say? Angels?

An angel is a messenger, an attendant spirit or guardian. By definition, I saw angels in action.

Green Day in their roots are an American punk rock band. When you imagine punk rock and saw mosh pits and crowd surfing concert goers you could make up that such behavior is inherently unsafe, angry, violent, dangerous or possibly out of control.

Yet here’s what I experienced in our fair City of Angels: the electricity of a band interacting with their fans, playing their hearts out, singing the passion and rage of their lyrics, music vibrating through the soles of our feet and echoing from the voices of the crowd through the walls of the arena.

Beyond the stage, there was a show within the show that came from within the masses. I call it The CrowdSurf Catch™ — it looked like this:

1. Fan travels prone towards the stage, lifted and carried overhead in the arms of the revelers (crowd surfer surfing)
2. Surfer reaches the barrier between the audience and the performers, the fourth wall. Lifted and pushed forward another few feet and they’d be onstage in a duet with Billy Joe Armstrong.
3. But no. Not here. Not today.
4. Here, the surfer arrives at the fourth wall to be met by one of the Security Angels™ who would reach up towards the hands of the crowd, lift the fan gently and place them upright and back on their feet, then encourage the surfer to return to their place of origin in the crowd.

I watched it on repeat, this conveyor belt of love and overhead presses. No drama, no police action, just a peaceful and safe ballet ending in a gentle return to the night.

Our world can be a scary place. This concert took place days after the Boston Marathon bombing when we all felt the fear and anxiety of being part of a crowd. Watching these angels in action, I heard the voice of Mr. Rogers in my mind: Look for the helpers.

Angels. Helpers. Messengers. Attendant Spirits. Guardians.

If you can’t find one, be one.