Started from the Bottom...

Perspective. What an interesting word. It really is everything. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Or in my case, one man’s trash is the rest of our mess. This place was not my home. This place, littered with garbage. Mostly empty beer bottles, take out containers, and cigarettes. I walk to my area of the room, sectioned off by empty egg crates with moth eaten blankets draped over them.  Across the room I can hear the other boys playing games. I never liked games much. I preferred to listen.

 

A dog barking. A ball bouncing. The wind chimes of the next door neighbors. A fire engine adds its piece to the symphony. Everywhere you go, there’s music waiting to be heard. You take the conversations of strangers, the chirping of birds, and the hard tap-tap-tap of a woman’s heel down the sidewalk, you have a beautiful combination of what once was noise and to me, is music.

Not knowing your parents is a challenge not many have to go through. Even those who have lost their parents at a young age don’t know the struggle of not knowing who you are. I turn to music for my identity. The figures in my head come easily, like dialing an old friends phone number. I didn’t know what they were called, but I knew they made more sense to me than anything these kids ever said.

 

A girl once caught me sleeping under her piano at a church. I told her I loved music more than food. It is a part of me, I said. She taught me what she called “notes”.  “Every Good Boy Does Fine”. E-G-B-D-F. She also taught me what music looked like on a piece of paper. I haven’t stopped writing my own music ever since.

 

Music is an escape. It can turn complete strangers into lifelong friends. People of different cultures, languages, colors, can unite in the simple melodies that pass through their ears and into their hearts. There are all types of music. I’ve learned how to put what’s in my heart onto paper, so that others can hear what I feel. Hear what I’ve seen. Hear what I perceive.  

*You know what music is? God's little reminder that there's something else besides us in this universe, a harmonic connection between all living beings, every where, even the stars.*

Toast and Eggs Blog

You don't have to be afraid...

Caught in a crowd. Where are my friends? Surrounded. Lost. Cell phone service? Yeah, right. Somehow I didn't mind. I've never seen so many people in one place. Lights everywhere. Blue lights, green lights, flashing lights, lasers, led screen, little lights, big lights, all of the lights. I can't stop looking at the girl in front of me. I feel like she'll notice, then I wonder if I'd mind if she did. I push my way to cooler air to escape.

Two kids sitting on the ground, playing with light toys. They don't seem to notice anything around them. I get asked for doses. Sorry buddy, not today. Water is five dollars? I think about all the thirsty kids in the world. Supply and demand is an amazing concept. A cup of soda cost manufacturers pennies, and if you buy it at a football game it costs you seven dollars. I wonder how they get away with this modern day highway robbery. 

I finally make my way to what they call the main stage. Something palpable fills me as I get closer. Somehow i'm lost in the crowd again. The bass thumps in time as I walk. Boom-Boom-Boom-Boom. My heartbeat. So many people moving together. The music has slowed down. Why are everyones hands up? The air is still. Then the drums come. Slower at first, then faster, and faster. The rush comes over me. One hundred thousand people jump in the air.

When night has become the day

They're sending you far away

So, so far away

When everything starts to fade

You don't have to be afraid

No, you don't have to be afraid

<3