September has just ended!
It was full of activities, starting with 50th
High School class reunion on September 11, that I just attended for the first
time after graduation. Then there was a
September Game with a challenge from the leader of WFG Cruzader Nation group
top leader for a promotion to Senior Associate.
Also there is a challenge to support the fund raising efforts of my
missionary son for Thai Word Prince of Peace Book Christmas
2016 project. Last but not least is a September
five-song challenge from my music professor, David Cowan!
The Song Challenge
It was unforeseen circumstance in conducting my new
business and other activities that delayed the completion of the musical
challenge. The process inevitably makes
me realize how much work it involves for a musician to play a piece of
beautiful music for us to enjoy. I chose
my own songs to play, figure out the guitar chords and review with my professor. The first song was “Just A Closer Walk With
Thee”, which is relatively simple. The
second song, “Moon River” took me more time because of the rhythm, which I
needed to improve. The third one was the
hardest since I had to play bar chords, requiring strength in my fingers for the
chord to sound right. It will need more
of my practice time and finger exercises to make it sounds good.
I had to perform and record it even though it is not quite good
yet. But hey! It’s the journey that counts and not the destination!
Despite the challenges, I like this song because the lyrics and title are beautiful and full of hope. The song is “A Time For Us” from the movie
Romeo and Juliet that was released in the late 60’s (Word by Larry Kusik and
Eddie Snyder, and music by Nino Rota):
A time for us, some day there’ll be
When chains
are torn, by courage born
Of the love
that’s free.
A time when dreams, so long denied, can flourish
As we
unveil the love we now must hide
A time for us, at last we’ll see, a world worthwhile for you
and for me
And with our love through tears and thorns
We will
endure, as we pass surely through every storm
A time for us, some day there’ll be a new world,
A world of
shining hope, for you and me.
The Tribute
I mentioned earlier that I had the opportunity to celebrate
50th anniversary of high school class reunion and a chance to catch up with my classmates. One person in particular that I was glad to reconnect was my
American host sister when I was the school’s foreign exchange student. And from our conversation, I learned that my
classmate, Ruth Shinn, whom I admired a lot for her talents, took her own life,
a few years after graduating from high school.
She played Maria Von Trapp in the school musical, the Sound of
Music. Every time I watched the movie,
the play, TV show, or heard the song the Sound of Music, I would think of her
and such a fun time I had participating in the play! I wished I would see her again and find out
how she was. Then I learned of the
tragic story that she took her life after being denied an opportunity to pursue
studies or career in music or stage performances. Her parent did not want her to sing “worldly
music” and songs.
I could understand that one could feel hopeless when she could not do
what she loved to do. After all, that was the way God created her to be, a singer…
I would like to dedicate the song “A Time for Us” to my
talented friend, Ruth Shinn, and also a friend in the junior class, Joseph
Scott. I didn’t see him at the reunion
but he was part of the memorable experience during my foreign exchange student
year. It was in the middle of civil
right movement at the time, and I learned about American race relations first
hand. I learned about discrimination
because of the color of the skin. I
learned also that there were Americans that would like to learn about other
countries and make friends with other nations such as my country of origin.
Joseph Scott was the Junior Class Vice President. He was black among a handful of black
students in the school, athletic, and was in my Chorus class. Very polite and well-groomed, wearing suit
and tie to school all the time. During
Christmas time, he brought very nice present of jewelry to the Chorus for
me. Girls in my chorus class all said “Ooh” and “Ahh” because of the way he presented me with the gift after the class. That was quite dramatic and although I
received gifts from other friends as well, that made me feel special. So when he asked me to be his Junior ball
date, I was hoping to be able to go. There was some problem,
however: my American parent, especially
my American Mom did not want me to go to this party with him, and the matter went all the
way to the School’s foreign exchange committee!! I was surprised that this matter of me going
to a party had to go to the committee while another friend of mine who was
white could take me to the senior prom without any problem! I just found out from my American sister that
it was her mom who had the problem and did not welcome my friend. I just found out from Cheryl, my sister that he was standing out side of the house waiting for me instead of being invited into the house. It was the school that
overruled my American mom's wish to deny Joseph from taking me to the junior ball. This was because the foreign
exchange program was to promote international understanding and
friendship. I had a chance to visit
Joseph’s home and his dad, who was a professional photographer and took the picture
of us before going off to the party. It was
quite a cool picture actually.
Fast-forward to nowadays, the race relations problem in
America is not getting better. Even though
we have the first black US President, the discrimination in the mind of a lot
of people permeates into law enforcement.
Black youths especially boys and young men are targets of arrest more and
often times ended up being dead even when they were not armed. So I felt for Joseph and friends from the
black communities, who are treated differently because of the skin color. I would like to dedicate this song to him as a symbolic support for my black friends to have hope and dreams for a better
world…There will be a time for us, a new world of shining hope for you and me!!
By the way, you can watch my video of me playing “A Time for
Us”, imperfectly, on my Facebook fan page: Wanee Bee-Attitude
