The Meek Shall NOT Inherit the Earth

I was substitute teaching today for a music class. Fun, I know. It's like going to a concert for seven hours and having some songs repeated with varying degrees of skill. It was nice. A theme began to emerge during the end of the day that got my shoddy excuse for a brain moving when watched two different classes sing the same song. The first class sang everything right on pitch with good timing and everything. It sounded fine. The second class also hit all the right notes and sang correctly, but they sounded really good. The difference? The first class sang as if having confidence and enthusiasm would be punishable by death. The second class sang as if they were driving in the car all by themselves drumming on the steering wheel. You know how you get into the music when you think no one's looking, but the guy in the car next to you is thinking "Is that person having a seizure or something?"

Dave Grohl's got the sack to sing out. People will remember him.

Because I'm a substitute, I have no real instructing authority, but what I wanted to do was grab some of the people unwilling to have confidence in what they were doing and shake them screaming "NO ONE WHO SITS ON THE SIDELINES BELIEVING THEY MAY FAIL HAS EVER ACCOMPLISHED ANYTHING OF NOTE IN THE HISTORY OF THIS PLANET SO START ACTING LIKE THERE IS NOTHING IN THIS WORLD YOU CANNOT DO." And then I would take a big breath and add in a much softer voice "Without being an arrogant d-bag."

Don't get me wrong, these are really good kids with a lot to offer this world, and maybe in some settings they metaphorically sing out, but it's important that they do so even if they're outside their comfort zone. It's important for everyone to remember taking bold chances may not work out but not taking bold chances has never worked out, not on a large scale anyway.

Usually, these issues stem from a lack of self confidence, which is totally understandable, but if people want to make a mark in this world, they need to get over that quick. It starts with kids in classes like music, P.E., and art where children are forced to put something of themselves on display for other people. But if years and years go by and children get into the pattern of fading into the background during things they don't feel overly comfortable with they lose the willingness to put something of themselves on display. That's why if you watch small children do art of music they seem to relish the opportunity while older kids mask their uncertainty in a thin veil of apathy.

Instead of putting themselves out there for the world to judge, people learn to play it safe, and history doesn't remember people who play it safe. So, forget safe and remember: FORTUNE FAVORS THE BOLD.