The One Eyed Man

Photo by Jeremy Lishner on Unsplash

"In a world of blind people, the one eyed man is king"

But what is the blind person in a seeing world?

A few days ago I used 5th grade music as an analogy for politics. Today, I had the joy of watching the Ashland 7th, 8th and High School bands perform. Each band showed improvement, progression and variation from the other and from their own previous versions. Attending these concerts is a cultural mystery to me because I did not grow up in  a musical household and I myself am not musical at all. Even the shower asked me to stop singing!

I am amazed at the Arts in American schools, even though they are increasingly underfunded and limited in ability. It is the strength of a culture to develop artists, musicians, and creatives despite what The Book of Lord Shang says. The Arts is critical to our culture!

And here's where the blind man analogy comes out. I am the blind man in a world of seeing people or more correctly, I am the deaf man in a hearing world (figuratively). I love music, of all types. But, I neither sing nor play. I do have a guitar gathering dust that I occasionally pick at, but I am not musically gifted.

However, my family, both immediate and extended, are quite gifted.

• My wife sings and plays harp and piano (most often at weddings, but she has led worship and assortments of bands excellently in the past)
• My youngest plays the piano and is learning the trombone and is about to enter the musical world of band next year (and he can't wait!)
• My eldest plays piano and french horn, a member of the school band and Wind Ensemble that has won silver at the MICCA Festival.
• One sister in law was on a championship winning marching band.
• The other one sings like an angel.
• Both brothers in law are strong singers with one being on numerous choirs and ensembles.
• One nephew sings in plays regularly and will probably win a Tony or Oscar at some point. I just hope he remembers me!
• The other is already musically famous and wrote a piece for the radio show, On Point, which they heard and raved about. You can see the thread here about what the radio show thought: https://twitter.com/onpointradio/status/1137057715698581505?lang=en

All that to say I am proud of their musical prowess and blessed by what they do. I sit at a buffet of musical delicacies and am allowed to eat to my hearts content. But often, in the midst of those banquets, I wonder what they hear. I'm the deaf man, so I wonder, "Am I hearing what they hear? And if not, what do they hear? What am I missing?"

I enjoy music in an entirely different way than they do, an ignorant way.

So, what's my point? 

I don't really have one, other than to show off the gifts of my family, tell you I'm proud of them and try to persuade you that the Arts is important. Fund it.

Oh, and maybe to ask: how might I hear music better?