A Symphony

 

  Imagine this: The lights dim. The voices in the crowd turn to whispers, and then die out completely in silent expectation. One area is lit. One area in the front and center still shines out bright. Around this light, in a half circle that's facing the silent crowd, you can just make out the forms of people sitting silently, an instrument resting gently in their laps. You can just see the lines of their faces, concentrated, firm, resolved, and waiting. Then come the footsteps, gentle footsteps, footsteps so quiet that you almost can't hear them...but they're there all the same. Finally the cause of the footsteps emerges from the dark. A man, dressed in black and white walks into the bright circle of light. He stands in the middle. He turns to the crowd, bows, and straightens again.
  The moment has come. His moment has come. He wrote, and through his writing there was produced a sound. The sound was turned into a melody and put on paper again. It's a powerful thing, and this powerful thing has been created by him.
  It has come from his mind.
  It has come from his heart.
  It has come from his imagination.
  All three have been working together to create a beautifully complex thing. It contains beauty, intelligence, and feeling-like a human. It speaks without words-unlike a human. Its name is music. And the creator is the conductor. Tonight he will share it with the world.
  Suddenly you see him life his hand, ever so slightly, and the sound of light tapping reaches your ears. Three taps. The forms in front of him raise their instruments, tensing ever so slightly, poised and ready to begin. The air thickens. Slowly, gently, his arm begins to move. The hand holding the stick sways back and forth, bringing out a soft sweet sound. It was the beginning, and through it you could hear all three of them: mind, imagination, and heart.
  In the dark of the room there suddenly seems to be more light, shining, singing inside of you. Something within you seems to come alive. The weight you carried begins to lift. You start to laugh, pure joy coursing and vibrating throughout your entire being! You're alive, you have been given life, been given love, been given everything good and wonderful. And you know it!
  You think it.
  You feel it.
  You see it.
  But then you begin to cry. What started as such a beautiful thing suddenly contains sorrow as your eyes shift from the conductor to the shadows around you. The echoing, haunting chords of the symphony pierce your soul like an arrow. Never has it been so hard to breathe as now. Never has it been so difficult to raise your eyes from the ground, or open them to watch the tears you're weeping splash on the marble floor beneath you.
  And then the tone changes. Softly, gently rising higher and louder than the agony being expressed, comes a new sound. Just as despair seemed to be taking over, just as you began to believe you would suffocate, there comes the sound of hope. Oxygen, pure, untainted oxygen reaches your lips! So weak, and so thin at first, but growing stronger and thicker with every sound produced from the hand of the conductor. You'd forgotten about him. Yet there he stands. Right in front of you. Giving you life once again. Reaching through the sound of pain that you let dominate, defeating the sorrow you allowed to overcome you, he's right there.
  You breath in.
  You breath out.
  You smile through your tears.
  You fix your eyes on the creator, the conductor, as he spreads out both hands before you for the final, long, loving note, giving you everything he has left. His hands go down abruptly. The music stops. The light above him goes out. It's as though he's disappeared, never existed, died or left. Silence seems to drag on for hours, but in reality lasts only a few seconds. The light comes on again. There he is. Facing you. Looking straight into your eyes. Smiling at you...and you smile back, gratefully. You're alive, because he's alive!
  You know it.
  You feel it.
  You see it.

  And most of all: you believe it!