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Reflections March 2016

My Thoughts Today

What an Old Man Has to Say

By Noah LeVia

The question "Who would ever want to hear a 40-year-old fat woman sing?" got me to thinking of another one. "Who would ever want to hear what an old man has to say?"

From 1987 until 1993 my wife Vashti and I were professional entertainers as well as church music ministers. Our professional name was "The StorySingers."

When we met (on Sunday, March 27, 1987, at 5:59 p.m. at the Seattle Unity Church, to be exact), I had been a professional storyteller for several years. She was/is a very talented musician. She is also a very talented storyteller, having grown up with parents that told her their own original stories, as well as reading stories, from her youngest childhood.

She awakened my inner musician, and I awakened her storytelling. Hence, the name "The StorySingers" came to be. We produced a most unique entertainment product that combined puppetry, music, and storytelling as we presented our adaptations of classic fairy tales as well as our own original stories and songs. We performed for literally tens of thousands of people across the U.S. in schools, community events, churches, state-of-the-art performing centers, malls, platforms on the ground, and from flatbed trucks. We became "regulars" at the Seattle Center Main Stage in Seattle.

Vashti's rich, beautiful, contralto voice and her incredible personal style of guitar playing literally mesmerized audiences. Her guitar-playing style has been compared to playing and picking the guitar like a banjo. Vashti's dream of being a successful professional entertainer was realized, as was mine.

Vashti had that dream for a long time before she met me. However, her dream had been squashed and dampened. Whenever she had expressed her dream to her first husband, he would sarcastically say, "Who would ever want to hear a 40-year-old fat woman sing?"

Who indeed? It turned out that thousands of people did. It turned out that people sought her out for both guitar and voice lessons. It turned out that hundreds upon hundreds of people expressed personal emotional healings from her songs. It turned out that her singing brought comfort to hospitalized oncology patients and to institutionalized troubled teens.

The question "Who would ever want to hear a 40-year-old fat woman sing?" got me to thinking of another one. "Who would ever want to hear what an old man has to say?"

That is a question I can't answer. I don't know. However, in looking back over my years, I've thought of a few observations. Some of the things this old man has to say are:

The next time you're suffering from a terrible hangover, mean it when you say, "Oooh, I feel awful. I'll never drink again." Really mean that the next time. Give yourself the wonderful gift of an alcoholic-hangover-free-life for the rest of your life. Hangovers aren't fun. And they're not funny.

Eat healthy. You are truly what you eat. If you haven't, do serious research into plant-strong foodstuffs.

My God is not stronger than yours, and yours is not stronger than mine. No one has any more access to "The Spirit Of God" than anyone else.

Keep an orderly house. Make your bed every day. Live an orderly life. It is a truth that your outer world reflects your inner one.

Sarcasm is not communication.

Don't be stubborn and procrastinate about seeing a physician for an ailment.

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." "As ye sow, so shall ye reap." "What goes around comes around." Karma. It's a cosmic law!

We all are one human race. Most things that separate us are stupid, foolish things. We live together on a tiny speck in the vastness of the cosmos...a "pale blue dot."

It is imperative that we cherish our "little blue dot" and become true stewards of it.

Always take medications as directed.

Live as fully as you possibly can every instant. It could be your last one.

Do not fall into the trap of identifying yourself by your chronological age.

Be very grateful for the age you are.

Develop an "attitude of gratitude." Give thanks constantly for all you have and for who you are.

Whatever your dream is, do all you can to make it so.

We are not bodies with eternal souls. We are eternal souls with bodies. There is a difference in the concepts.

Profanity is ignorance trying to express itself.

Religion was not created by God. Religion is an artificial, human-created "system-of-rules" designed to worship our concepts of God. Jesus was not a Christian, and Buddha was not a Buddhist.

Religions and political systems, by their very natures, are designed to be exclusive rather than inclusive.

Reality is perception, and perception is reality. The world is how you perceive it.

Make it a point to be punctual.

Learn basic English grammar, especially if you're a native English speaker. Write correctly.

Be kind.

That's enough stuff for this old man to say right now. Those are my thoughts today.

 

Currently Noah and his wife Vashti live in Mesa, Arizona, where they continue to write their “Happily Ever After Story.” Noah also loves Marketing. He presently serves as Marketing Liaison for three local UPS stores.

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