“‘Maybe I did not live as I ought to have done,’ it suddenly occurred to him*. ‘But how could that be, when I did everything properly?’ he replied, and immediately dismissed from his mind this, the sole solution of all the riddles of life and death, as something quite impossible.” – *Ivan Ilyich

by Leo Tolstoy

An amazing note written by a good friend of ours.

Photographers – by Patrick Mahon

Whether or not we know it, we are all photographers. Every moment is a snapshot, caught by the lens of our eyes, snapped by a blink, and stored in our brains. We store these memories and moments in our hard drive to make our very own photo albums, to revisit in other times of life. Our lives are made up of these photos, the life we live between each blink. We need to be creative in our lives and discover the happiness through the photos we take and capture in each moment.

Yet, too often we rush through this life. We may live long lives, but we speed through our days, counting the seconds and minutes as we go through our routines, from school to work to all the other events in our lives. How often we put things off in our life for another day, wasting our time waiting for something to happen. We live out so many moments just waiting and not seizing the day for another chance to savor and catch another great photo.

What happens when those moments and seconds become precious? Why pass up a chance to make a new album and record more memories?
Why not live for today while we have it?

Tired

See I’ve been thinking you and I should pack our bags and run away—I know that’s so cliché.
But everyday I’m working towards a life I may not want some day.  But isn’t that what they all say?
 
But maybe I’m just tired. Maybe you’re just bored with me.
Maybe I’m an awful liar. Maybe I’m the world’s best and I’ve fooled everyone but me.
 
See I’ve been trying since I’ve realized it all comes back to you. Every single thing you do.
I’ve learned that from my father. He taught me more than anyone I ever knew. I’ve learned forgiveness and thank you.
 
But if I close my eyes, these wounds will cauterize, coagulating as they seal.
And I realize the painful parts of life are there to help us heal.
 
But maybe I’m just tired. Maybe you’re just bored with me.
Maybe I’m an awful liar. Maybe I’m the world’s best and I’ve fooled everyone but me.

I asked my 6-year-old brother how his day was yesterday. “Not so good,” he answered. Surprised at hearing this response (he usually has a great disposition and tells me lots of good things about his day), I asked him why.

“Well, we had a fire drill today.” He starts explaining with a trembling voice. “And we had 2 groups, group A and group B. I was in group A. The teacher told group B they did great but she told my group that we should be ashamed of ourselves.” He started crying and gave the phone back to my mom.

I quickly tried to assure him and my mom that it probably wasn’t his fault, that it was the group the teacher was talking about and not him in specific. My efforts had little effect on the situation and it was clear that in his world this was a sort of catastrophe.

And then it hit me.  

This is where it starts. As early as kindergarten, and even much earlier, we are taught to “be ashamed” of ourselves for our mistakes.  We are taught to repress and feel guilty for not fitting in perfectly with a system of rules and protocols. So much of the time, we are clumped into groups (because it’s easier and quicker) instead of being encouraged as individuals for our particular talents and guided in a way that inspires rather than berates. Parents, teachers, organizations, we’re all guilty of doing this.

Take a quick look at today’s society (the historically high levels of depression, paralyzing anxiety, and fear of failure that probably you and most of the people you know have struggled with on some level) and it becomes obvious: The cumulative effect of such actions is devastating.

And it all starts with just one statement, repeated over and over in many different ways throughout your life: “You should be ashamed of yourselves.”

No, you shouldn’t.

Want your voice to be on the upcoming A Moment’s Worth release?

We’re recording group vocal parts and want you to be a part of it.  Simply RSVP by commenting below (space is limited!) & come sing for our new CD, hang out with the band, hear the new recordings, eat pizza with us, and get your name in the album’s liner notes.  Don’t worry, we’ll teach you the words.

When: Saturday, April 24th @ 3PM
Where: 1535 Stillwell Ave. Bronx, NY (Get Reel Studios)

If you want to get a rough idea of what the new songs sound like, here are 2 live versions from our last show:

Thank you so much in advance for being a part of this and we can’t wait to see you guys & hear you sing!