#2 Learned To Play an Instrument

Aldous Huxley once said that "after silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." Music is something that is important to a lot of the people closest to me. Whether it is in the form of playing a musical instrument or having an iTunes collection consisting of thousands of songs, the people closest to me seem to have an inexplicable relationship with music. My closest connection to music is being part of my school's choir, during which I've always stared in awe at the director's ability to play any tune that is in front of her. I've always been amazed to see one of my friends pick up his guitar and figure out the proper cords to play after hearing a song just one time. I've always been blown away by the power that my friends carry in their voices. To them, music is a part of them that defines who they are. Ray Charles said, "I was born with music inside me. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. Like my blood. It was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a necessity - like food or water." I think it's a beautiful thing to have a connection to music. It's always something I wish I had. I envy those who can sit in front of a piano and just play or who can hit a high note like it's the easiest thing in the world. I wish my parents would've forced me to take those piano lessons that it seems like every kid has taken and hated at some point in his or her life. I wish I had the self-discipline to learn something like the violin or the cello, both beautiful and ornate instruments that when played have the ability to bring people to tears. When it comes down to it, I wish I had the talent to play an instrument. I fully admire anyone that can. Without these people and their talents, the world would be a much different place. Imagine life without music. Silence on the way to school in the morning, nothing to sing in the shower, Facebook statuses without mainstream lyrics (actually that one might not be too bad), no background music on all those movies we go see in the theaters, nothing to listen to when you're doing your homework or are just browsing the Internet aimlessly. Sounds like a pretty sad life to me. Literally.