“Music is sound in melodic or harmonic combination”. Music speaks to our soul, and drives the e-motion that propel us to take action in life. Mr. Holland (Richard Dreyfus) has spent years composing his own piece of work, a passionate reflection of his state of mind when life was full of hope, wonder and magic.
In the face of dreams, life often takes us by surprise, presenting immediate and unexpected challenges. To manage what appears before us, we make choices to best satisfy the trajectory at the time. Without noticing, a series of decisions can propel us so far from our original hopes and dreams that we hardly recognize ourselves.
Everything that life presents offers opportunity to create resilience and fortitude along our path. If we are not reaching our own heights and playing our tune then it can become difficult to reach others.
“When we change our from focus from merely playing the notes on a page, to connecting to something more meaningful and from the heart, then the true beauty of life can emerge.” Add a dose of trust in our own abilities and a whole different arrangement comes into play.
As the legendary John Lennon said, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”. If we don’t fully receive the life we are given and if we judge the package we get, because it wasn’t what we were anticipating, then disappointment can dilute our enthusiasm and effectiveness.
Richard Bach, philosopher said, “We best teach what we most need to learn” and we often give to others what we need for ourselves. ‘An unfinished symphony, an unfilled dream, a diversion’, whatever way we play it, life’s challenges will make us the people we become.
After thirty years of teaching and witnessing arts programs repeatedly cut due to funding restrictions, Mr. Holland presents an impassioned speech to the school faculty “that without the arts we breed a generation of children who are not able to think and create for themselves.”
When we believe in others, we make a difference by the sheer act of believing.
“We may consider our own lives have been misspent in a down moment. We may believe we are expendable, yet we can but make a difference to the lives of others when we connect to our purpose.” We may not live the life we thought we would live, but when we commit to our purpose, we will live the life we were born to live.
We are the melodies and notes of the collective symphony and we are indeed, the music of life.
© Patricia Herreen 2013