If you have a voice and can use it, be thankful. If you have a voice and can sing, be deeply thankful. If you have a voice and can sing well enough to stand up in front of an audience, rejoice in your gratitude. If you sing well enough to do it in front of an audience and get paid, shout out your appreciation from the housetops. And if, by some miracle of miracles, you sing well enough to be paid and become well known for your singing, then find a way to express that gratitude every single day.
There are people in this world who lose the ability to speak through injury and illness. There are people who would give anything to be able to sing “Happy Birthday” to their child but can’t “find the notes” and are embarrassed to try. There are people who sing in the kitchen and the shower but would never sing alone anywhere someone else could hear them. There are people who would love to do a solo at church but are never asked. There are people who would love to be paid to sing at a local bar, coffeehouse, or community theater but are too afraid to try. There are people who get paid to sing but not enough to even cover their own costs of getting to a gig. There are people who are asked to perform in public, who get paid, and who are locally recognized, but can’t get to the next level professionally. There are people who sing who do it for a living, make enough to live well, are recognized but not famous and still have to push hard to keep their careers moving. And there are the few who are famous, who have a following, who make lots of money, and whose voices are recognized immediately by throngs of fans, who worry every day about vocal health, the stress of travel, the need to keep singing well and a million other things.
Whatever state we are in, there are many reasons not to be grateful, but none of them are valid. If you are alive and can sing, even if it is just in your mind, you have great reason to be grateful.
On this day of giving thanks, join me in being grateful for song, for music, and for all of our (internal and out loud) voices. Many blessings to all!