I wish this had been ready for Valentine’s Day, but it
applies every day, doesn’t it?
I have written before about love and how music has affected
my life. Years ago, Gene Pitney sang a song called, “Only Love Can Break a Heart.” I remember only bits and pieces of
the song and its melody, but what I never forgot was the first line of the song,
“Only love can break a heart, and only love can mend it again,” and how, today,
it pertains to my situation. Shortly after my wifes death, I went through a
rough patch for a while. I visited the doctor’s office, even though my body was
fine, looking for some magical pill that would help heal a broken heart. Then
slowly, over the months, I learned the secret of mending that heart, and you
know what? It pertains to a lot of us, every day of our lives.
I thought of that song one day when I was feeling down and
out. Then I thought of all of the people that were reaching out to me, in my
time of need, because they knew that the best way to heal me was to love me.
But even though I started out talking about me today, I want you to know how
much this pertains to all of us as we go though life. You don’t have to lose
the love of your life to have a broken heart. There are people who never had a
significant other to lose, and they still have broken hearts. What we tend to
forget is they, like us, need to be loved. They don’t need a lecture from a shrink on how to turn their
life around. They just need to be listened to, empathized with, and showed that
they are loved.
Love is such a powerful emotion
that you would think it would be everybody’s choice in life to be filled with
it. Put your hands out right now, palms up. The right one is love and the left
one is hate. The choice isn’t even close. The problem is though; love seems to
be on a barter system for many people. You give me some, and I will give you
some. What we don’t seem to understand, all too often, is this—that even in a
barter system, the process has to start someplace and someone needs to make the
first move. You walk up to someone with your hand outstretched, and most likely,
his or her hand will find yours. You open your arms to someone, and they will
open theirs, and you just got yourself a wonderful, loving hug.
The world, being the way it is today, has caused us to erect
a lot of walls between others and ourselves. It wasn’t our intention, it was a
guarded reaction brought on by an increasingly dishonest world. So you have
this little feeling-out period with new friends, and all too often, we never
get beyond it. Although we may have unlocked the door in the wall, our foot is
still holding it shut. Remove that foot, open that door, and extend your right
hand and give it a try. Benjamin Disraeli said, “We are all born for love. It is the principal of existence, and its
only end.” I will end this by going back to the music I talked about, at
the beginning of the column, because for me—music is love, and love is the
music in our own private concert—and we are the Maestros.
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