I love music. I love the way it crosses barriers, softens hearts, and brings people together. When most people hear me sing, they say, “What talent. How lucky you are.” But what those people don’t see is the countless hours I have sacrificed to practice, and peruse my music, and my dreams. It has been a constant struggle to keep music in my life, when the world is full of people who say that music is not worthwhile goal.

But I have learned through experience that it is! That your dreams are always worth it, no matter the cost.

The struggle to believe in my dreams is like an old damaged violin I bought.

It had been tossed out a window, and it looked pretty bad. But I knew that it had music locked up inside of it. So I took it to a reputable violin repairman. I knew that it had the potential to sound like a Stradivarius. But the repairman told me that it wasn’t worth his time to fix it. He told me that I should buy something knew, something better.

I put the violin away. I let it sit buried in my closet. Until one day, I heard of another repairman. I took it to him and he told me the same thing---that it was pointless to try to fix it.

Angry, and frustrated, I took the violin, determined to fix it myself. I knew that those people were wrong! I hoped that if I tried hard enough, I could make it sound like it must have, long ago.

After three months of hard work, learning, and dedication, the violin that nobody thought was worth a dime, was restored. It sounded better than anything I had ever played. It sings with richness and haunting beauty. All because I believed in it. It makes me sad to think of what might have happened, had I let it sit in the back of my closet. I would have never known what joy it could have given to myself and others.

I believe that all of us, no matter our challenge have some sort of music locked up inside us, like that violin. The key is to work with what we have, not matter how battered, broken and worthless it may seem to others. To keep on learning, to keep on believing so that some day the music inside our broken souls will reach out and touch others, inspiring them to believe that out of pain, challenge, and difficulties, the most beautiful sounds are born.