If "Life Is a Song," Then I Hope to Add to Its Lyrics

I am moved by art. And I am not ashamed to say it. Whether it be a song, a poem, a movie, a book, a painting, a dance, or even a TV show, any form of art has the potential to stimulate and even manipulate my mind. This is how I know that my purpose is to one day be able to move others. Whether it be to cry, to love, to yell, or merely just to talk, in the end I want to affect others in a positive way.

I would have to say (and this may be fairly obvious to some who will read this), that my favorite form of art is music. I listen to music every single day, of all different genres. Above all, I listen to music for the lyrics, I value the writing more than any other aspect of the song because I consider myself to be a lyricist, a writer. Not many songs today can convey a message without lyrics like those of great composers such as Mozart or Beethoven. And at times, it seems that a good lyric can be hard to come by. I am thankful that I have become more and more eclectic through the years. And while I still consider hip-hop to be my favorite genre, my ears have no limits.

Today, though I had "heard" the song once before, genuinely "listened" to an absolutely amazing song for the first time. "Life Is a Song," by Patrick Park has, without a doubt some of the most remarkable lyrics I have ever listened to in my life, and I urge you with every morsel of my soul to listen to it as well. It's one of those songs, you hear, but don't realize its significance until your about halfway in. So to make sure, you replay it once, twice, three times... and the more and more you replay it the more and more your mind expands and wonders, the more and more it's difficult to fathom how your emotions can be influenced. You can't get enough of the song, and you're so grateful you discovered it you don't want to let it go and risk losing it to memory.

If ever I felt that a song found me, and not the other way around, this was that time. I'm not afraid to admit that I'm in a point in my life where I feel stuck. I've been allowing life to dictate where I may end up, rather than dictating where I will send my life. And there is no greater fear than fear itself. And so I listened to the hook:

"Oh, it's time to let go of everything we used to know
Ideas that strengthen who we've been
It's time to cut ties that won't ever free our minds
From the chains and shackles that they're in."

To live in the past is to prevent the fortunes of the future, whether they may be good or bad. It's our job to embrace them, it's our duty to deal with them, it's our obligation to roll with them, adjust, and lead ourselves down the path we wish to go. I have been a victim of my own mind, a victim of time. Rather than adding to the map I started to graph when I couldn't even walk, I have placed myself on one of its islands that may have brought me happiness at one time or another in my history. I have left myself stranded, and it's time I found a way to embark on new voyages. It's time I allowed myself to the chance to succeed, and even to fail.

It is a strength for a song, or any piece of art for that matter to to leave those who experience it thinking. The final verse of "Life's Song" contains one of the heaviest last lines I have ever had the privilege to hear:

"Well life is a dream 'cause we're all walking in our sleep
You could see us stand in lines like we're dead upon our feet
And we build our house of cards and then we wait for it to fall
Always forget how strange it is just to be alive at all."

How true is this? And at the same time, how often do we stop to think something as simple as that line reads? I'm far from religious, and I'm not going to say that discovering this song today was some for of divine coincidence or intervention, but at the same time, I'm also not going to throw out any possibility, no matter how extreme. You may have heard it now and again, you run into someone who says something like, "That book changed my life." I hope to one day say that this song actually changed mine. I am thankful that I was able to listen to it at a time when I needed to listen to it most. Because honestly, the message of this song is what I had always preached would be my life before I found myself in this rut. It's effortless and cowardly to sit around focusing more on the past then the present and paving way to the possibilities of the future. Sure, we have learned and experienced a lot throughout our lives. But, living in fear that the future may not live up to the past only guarantees exactly that to happen. If only we stopped every once in a while, and thought about "how strange it is just to be alive at all," then maybe we could make sure never to allow boundaries to compromise our lives.

I am moved by art. And I am not ashamed to say it. And if truly, "Life Is a Song," I hope one day, I too can add to its lyrics.