After listening to the news for five minutes or scrolling through your Facebook feed, you can find that it is very easy to find areas to "pick sides" or to negate/support someone's opinions on certain topics. It is so easy to follow what all of the news outlets are saying and be "a nation divided."
But through it all, I choose to believe that there are some forces that are just beyond tearing us apart—that through all of the madness and disagreements, there will always be one force in particular that actually brings people of all backgrounds together.
And I'm not talking about Pokémon Go (though it has been a nice distraction all of the craziness).
I'm talking about the one thing that keeps us going every day, that has helped us through countless rough patches and aided us in celebrating the exciting moments, the thing that adds flavor to an otherwise dull world, and that I have found to unite strangers in the most unique ways.
That thing is music.
Music for me has been my friend, my support, my love and my inspiration since I can remember. I think back to when I was a child: my fondest memories are remembered in the tracks of some of my favorite songs. And still to this day, I listen to those Shania Twain, Relient K or The Black Eyed Peas songs because they take me back and help me to relive a time otherwise lost.
But even further, music entered my life in a greater capacity when I enrolled in band as a fifth grader. I always thought it would be cool to learn how to play an instrument, but I didn't realize the impact it would carry with it my entire life. Almost 10 years later, I am still in love with my clarinet and the experiences it has given me. I met some of my best friends through marching band, had the opportunity to travel the world with my instrument in hand, and learned so much about myself as a person—all because of music.
One of my favorite memories of music was when my friend I carpooled with two people we had never met for nine hours down the Spanish coast. They spoke broken English, and we were by no means conversationalists in our Spanish yet. However, the one thing that made the (what would've been otherwise silent) car ride incredible was music. The driver plugged in her music, which was full of golden oldies. We sang along to songs like "What's Up?" and "Don't Stop Believin'" as we made our way to Granada, Spain. And then the moment happened that I can still picture vividly in my mind.
After we had made it through Valencia, the ultra-famous song "Bohemian Rhapsody" came on. The two ladies and my friend and I sang along to the entire song at the top of our lungs. These ladies' English wasn't very good, but they understood music. We all understood music, and that was how we communicated. We laughed and laughed and smiled after singing that song together, and it was just one example of many in how music is the puzzle piece that connects all of us—from every walk of life—together.
Just think about it: How many people were at the last concert you attended? And from what I can remember of all of the concerts I have attended, everyone (for the most part) is always smiling, laughing, singing along and having a good time. Music gives everyone the chance to take a break from the outside world and bring people together.
From car rides to festivals, music is always present, giving people a commonality from one side of the world to the next.
