Fear. There isn’t much in this world that I fear. Typical things that people fear can be broken down into math problems. Fear flying? There are thousands of planes in the skies above us on any given day. Most people who fly, do so commercially. They pay an airline to get them from point a to point b. When was the last time you heard of a major airline crash resulting in fatalities in the US? Now think about how many auto related accidents you saw and passed going from home to work in the past month. So no, I don’t fear flying. Even though my fellow man is a terrible driver (in my opinion), I don’t fear an automobile accident either.
Want to put a shiver in my heart and make me stutter step a moment? Ask me to sing in front of an audience. This audience yesterday happened to be my family visiting the Christmas Tree Jubilee (https://www.facebook.com/ChristmasTreeJubilee). At first I didn’t think much of it. In the outer hall Christmas music was pumped in through the ceiling speakers. In the main display area, there was a live performance. When the sounds collided, it muted the off key singing from the main area.
Once inside, the reality of the roller coaster pitch coming from her became quite apparent. On stage was an attractive young teenager singing typical Christmas songs you would expect to hear this time of year. What caught me off guard was how out of tune she was, like I would imagine how someone who is tone deaf would sing … yet she continued through not just one song, but two more before I thought to record a snippet of the last song. Now I didn’t do this to make fun or tease. I recorded her because I was truly in awe of her confidence to deliver such cacophony to the audience, look them, look me in the eye, and not bat an eyelash. There was no fear or shame as she returned my eye contact. She just sang, unmoved, undeterred while I stood there admiring her confidence.
