One Voice
"Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent." ~Victor Hugo
We went to a hockey game Saturday night. After the players were announced and the visiting team was introduced, a beautiful girl walked to the edge of the carpet that was rolled out on the ice and began to sing our national anthem. I know she was beautiful because I could see her on the jumbotron. Her voice was beautiful too, as it sang the stanzas one by one. After the second stanza of the song, a lady in the stands behind me began to sing. I mean sing, not mumble. One more stanza and my whole section was singing. Much like the wave at a football game, the voices of the people joined in singing and it was awesome. What started as one lone voice became a chorus. The look on her face matched the feeling in my heart as the voices of the arena wrapped around and returned to her, standing alone on the carpet.
When I was in college at Clemson, I joined a group called Central Spirit. It was our job, as volunteers, to create banners, table tents and advertising for the various team sports on campus. We were also the group that filled the helium balloons for the football games. Depending on the time of the game and the number of balloons that needed to be available, we would arrive at the football stadium at all hours. For games starting at noon that had over 15,000 balloons, we were there before sunrise.
One such morning, we were well into our task when the sun began to rise over the campus. I paused to take a break when I heard a weird, small sound coming from the field behind me. I walked over to the edge of the seating and saw, to my amazement, a person standing on the 50 yard line, all alone. When I strained my hearing, I realized that the person was singing. As the spirit committee joined me, we realized that this was our headlining performer, Lee Greenwood, practicing the song he would sing at halftime. No body guards, no microphones, no red carpet, just one man and his voice, singing in the middle of the field. I became as excited for the halftime show as I was for the football game.
Halftime came to the southern town of Clemson, South Carolina. Lee Greenwood walked out to the spot that I had seen him on hours before, this time with a microphone and he began to sing. "If tomorrow all the things were gone, I've worked for all my life...." His famous song, Proud to be an American, filled Tiger Stadium. When he got to the first chorus, the stands rose to their feet and their voices rose even higher. "And I'm proud to be an American..." The booming voices of over 85,000 people sang along. It was incredible.
I have no idea how it must feel to be one person who so many are watching and listening to. I can imagine that it is more than a little scary. I do know this, had either of those remarkable people decided that starting thier respective song wasn't worth it or that they couldn't do it, we would have all lost out on amazing moments. One voice, with the right message at the right time can transform many. I'm so thankful to them both, the beautiful girl at the hockey game and Lee Greenwood, for sharing thier voices so that I could sing along.
We went to a hockey game Saturday night. After the players were announced and the visiting team was introduced, a beautiful girl walked to the edge of the carpet that was rolled out on the ice and began to sing our national anthem. I know she was beautiful because I could see her on the jumbotron. Her voice was beautiful too, as it sang the stanzas one by one. After the second stanza of the song, a lady in the stands behind me began to sing. I mean sing, not mumble. One more stanza and my whole section was singing. Much like the wave at a football game, the voices of the people joined in singing and it was awesome. What started as one lone voice became a chorus. The look on her face matched the feeling in my heart as the voices of the arena wrapped around and returned to her, standing alone on the carpet.
When I was in college at Clemson, I joined a group called Central Spirit. It was our job, as volunteers, to create banners, table tents and advertising for the various team sports on campus. We were also the group that filled the helium balloons for the football games. Depending on the time of the game and the number of balloons that needed to be available, we would arrive at the football stadium at all hours. For games starting at noon that had over 15,000 balloons, we were there before sunrise.
One such morning, we were well into our task when the sun began to rise over the campus. I paused to take a break when I heard a weird, small sound coming from the field behind me. I walked over to the edge of the seating and saw, to my amazement, a person standing on the 50 yard line, all alone. When I strained my hearing, I realized that the person was singing. As the spirit committee joined me, we realized that this was our headlining performer, Lee Greenwood, practicing the song he would sing at halftime. No body guards, no microphones, no red carpet, just one man and his voice, singing in the middle of the field. I became as excited for the halftime show as I was for the football game.
Halftime came to the southern town of Clemson, South Carolina. Lee Greenwood walked out to the spot that I had seen him on hours before, this time with a microphone and he began to sing. "If tomorrow all the things were gone, I've worked for all my life...." His famous song, Proud to be an American, filled Tiger Stadium. When he got to the first chorus, the stands rose to their feet and their voices rose even higher. "And I'm proud to be an American..." The booming voices of over 85,000 people sang along. It was incredible.
I have no idea how it must feel to be one person who so many are watching and listening to. I can imagine that it is more than a little scary. I do know this, had either of those remarkable people decided that starting thier respective song wasn't worth it or that they couldn't do it, we would have all lost out on amazing moments. One voice, with the right message at the right time can transform many. I'm so thankful to them both, the beautiful girl at the hockey game and Lee Greenwood, for sharing thier voices so that I could sing along.
Awesome, More of us need to be not afraid to be in the moment and take a chance to "sing" Thanks. Marsha
Reply to this
Marsha, Amen lady! It is a beautiful thing to sing out loud, both really and figuratively! Take a deep breath and sing or take a leap of faith and start a new song!
Hope your day is a great one! Pam
Reply to this