grace before fire

the other night we attended a concert directed by our friend elaine. this event was called grace upon grace. we weren't very familiar with the format and were attending primarily to support elaine. we expected her to be featured. as it turned out, she was more of an organizer and accompanist.

the first act was a severly autistic woman in her 40's. she grew up unable to tolerate other people, and here she was, standing on stage before 100 guests, singing her heart out. she was a bit disinhibited and couldn't really hit the high notes. we'd say that she sings about as well as any amateur. but we have to give her enormous credit for her ability to express herself through voice and the courage to sing publicly. there was an awkwardness to the situation that would have discouraged a lesser person.

it was a real treat to hear a soprano who has had numerous professional roles in operas such as madame butterfly and another singer who was born without arms and only one functional leg. it is admirable that her parents raised her like any other child; she even swam in the para-olympics. she has one prosthetic leg and must have assistance for dressing and eating and doing things that require hands. but she had an easy smile and otherwise looked like the girl-next-door.

she made a statement that we do not choose the nature of our birth: our family, location or body we've been given. her disability made us reflect upon our own lot. how would we live our lives with a physical or mental disability? how do we treat others with such? how do we demonstrate gratitude for the health of ourselves and our families? how would we raise a child with such deficits?

we can always hope and strive for physical strength and emotional connectedness, because not much else really matters in life. but we are not guaranteed such things. it was touching to witness the fortitude of these individuals, but we took away much more in our reflection.