The Uniting Force

 

 

Photo found here.

       I think all the uniting forces of the world can be boiled down into two core categories: love and loss, and even in the case of loss, there is still love. Well my friends, music is love. It is love and loss and so many other things, and for that, it unites us all.  

       I'm not sure there is such a thing as a person who doesn't like music, and if such a thing does exist, its exactly that: a thing, not a human. Even people who aren't super into music still like music. It's impossible not to. There's music in movies, commercials, and TV shows. We hear it on the streets and in restaurants. We hear it blaring out of the headphones of the person sitting next to us on the bus. We hear it at carnivals and loud parties and football games. If you think liking music is a choice, it's certainly not. Music exists in the same way your left hand does: rarely thanked, but constantly present. No one chooses to like their left hand.

       But still, we all could say we rather enjoy having our left hands, just like we could all say we enjoy a bit of music. Sure, not all of us could talk about it for hours, but we could muster up a bit of small talk. Not everyone can pick up a violin and carry a tune, but we can all hum a few bars of our favorite song. A sacred few choose to play the viola, but loads of people can play a chord or two on the guitar. Whether we have a complex, basic, or nonexistent knowledge of music, we are all united because of it.

       Music is love. I said it earlier and I'll say it again. Music. Is. Love. It's not just love songs. No. Music is the product of a passion. Music is the raw and the confined bits of our lives. Music is a human thing. It hasn't been around forever, but it's been around long enough. People have built their lives on it, and everyone else has built their lives around it in one way or another. Music is everything we want and need it to be! Healing! Joy! Sorrow! Forgiveness! Like cotton, it is the fabric of our lives! Our left hands! Our hearts! Our minds! What is music not?! Something so broad must be like a thread, stringing us up by our belly buttons and making a beautifully diverse garland of us all.