The Power of One

I admit it, I'm a choir geek.  I like to sing, but I LOVE to sing with other people.  I'd much rather do a duet than a solo any day.

I miss singing.

In Ireland, two years ago on a choir tour.

Last weekend, my sister got married.  Thanks to Ustream.tv, I was able to be there for the celebration, 8,000 miles away.  My favorite part was hearing my beautiful, talented sisters sing together.  It made my heart ache.  Also, the choir I sang with in New Mexico (Caliente) is touring Greece right now!  I wish I could be there.  (Thanks for inviting me, guys, but I just couldn't make it.)

I've sung in choirs since I was little:  Children's choirs, high school choirs, college and university choirs, church choirs, women's choirs, show choirs, a cappella choirs, community choirs - I even got to sing back up for a country band once.  I love it.  The thing that amazes me about a choir is the power that one voice has for good or for bad.  Even in a very large choir, one person makes a difference.  You are always heard.  My dad (also a singer) sent me a link last week.  Check it out if you have a few minutes.  http://www.wimp.com/choirvoices/  (I think I am Eric Whitacre's newest fan.)

I think sometimes we forget that our voice is heard.  Several months ago I went to a popular video store to rent a DVD (we still do that in Australia!)  I couldn't help noticing their collection of porn on the top shelf along the entire perimeter of the store.  I was offended by the pictures on the covers, and embarrassed to have my children with me.  I got my video and left.  I'm not the type that usually speaks up - if I ordered a steak well-done, and they brought it to me rare, I would just eat it rather than say anything.)  I talked to my friend Becky (yep, the same one that I grew up with in Idaho, who happened to move around the corner from me in Australia!) and she mentioned that she didn't like their top row selection of videos either.   We decided that we would say something, next time we were there.  I was nervous, but I did.

 I thought of my friend Angie who loves to read.  She read a book she liked but when the sequel came out, it was full of awful language.  She wrote to the author to tell her how much she loved her books and could she please not use such offensive language.  The author wrote back and said she would!

Today I stopped by the video store for the first time in 3 months, to see if they had Anne of Green Gables (it's chick flick time - we are on school holiday) and the video store had removed their offensive videos!  

I remember hearing that for every person who speaks up there are 100 people who don't.

Speak up.  You never know the power of one voice.