The following piece is an installment from The Forest Scout’s “30 Days of Gratitude”, a running feature which will stretch into the month of December, chronicling the things we are thankful for in Lake Forest and in the world in various writing styles and structures.

I am grateful for music.

Music helps me remember.

Music lets me forget.

Music can make the most horrible things seem like a story that happened to somebody else.

Music pulls me in.  And draws me out.

Ever watch a movie before the music has been added? Without music, the movie is never the same.

When someone listens to music, it fills their body with a power immeasurable.

Whether it’s playing music simply just listening, music can be a portal into another world.

Music gives my life rhythm.

Sometimes a song will come on the radio that is so perfect it is disturbing.

Imagine a world without it? Imagine our inability to listen to anything without music.

The effect is unquantifiable, yet I always know how a song will make me feel.  

And, when you lose someone, the song is still always there.

Like many other forms of art, music is conveyed on a deep personal level.

Music is the tool that lets people express themselves–

A world with sound but no music?

It would be like a world with colour, but no art.

Language, but no writing.  

Perhaps it’s best to leave that thought prefaced with the word “imagine”

Music for people around the world is a way to escape

To escape war

To escape loss

To escape pain

And be refilled with joy and happiness

To build a bridge with something they share with another–

A song, a hook, a verse, a voice…a piece of music.

“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.” -Bob Marley-