If you have nothing good to say...

I stumbled upon a link to a news article talking about Ellen de Generes new record label and the first artist she has signed up. His name is Greyston Chance. The article raved about him so, naturally, I HAD to go and check him out! All I can say is WOW... He's an eleven year old boy who plays piano with the grace and style of Tori Amos and sings like an angel. As if that's not enough, Greyston also writes his own songs. Discovering such raw and natural talent in one so young is akin to discovering a new type of precious metal. It's extremely rare and incredibly exciting!

I always start out listening to anything new with a high level of skepticism! I know that might sound terribly cynical BUT, being the owner of a company that promotes new, up and coming talent, I have listened to many, as yet unheard, songs and singers and, bad as this sounds, I think more than 90% of them should REMAIN unheard... so... it was with a healthy dose of skepticism that I moved my mouse over the play button and pressed down with my skeptical finger!

My first impression was that this boy looked, and played, like someone at least 10 years his senior. When he opened his mouth and sang, my own mouth dropped open simultaneously. This child is the WHOLE package. I actually got tears in my eyes watching the passion with which he performed his interpretation of Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi". The article also mentioned two of his own compositions which were up on YouTube for all to see and by now my mouse was flying all over the screen and my fingers were frantically typing to see if it was possible that, on top of all of this talent, he could still compose good songs. "Stars" is a fairly simple song when you read the lyrics and listen to it but, when have you ever heard an 11 year old child write about something so intense and turn it into something so beautiful and positive? If you are listening to it with a musician's ear, the chord changes are anything BUT simple, especially if you take it from whence it comes!

I began to read the comments people had posted under the video and I was smiling with all the positivity that was coming from people who didn't even know him. However, the smile started to go south the further down I read. I find it incredible that, even faced with talent as obvious as this, people still felt the need to say things like, "You're nothing like Justin Bieber" or "I think you have a hearing problem" or even worse, "I think you're just a gay piece of s*** that sucks at singing, get a life!"

I had to stop reading at that point because I felt sick to my stomach knowing that there was a good chance that he might actually read some of that stuff. Now I may be completely off the mark here. He MAY be miming. His parents MAY have even wrote the song for him. He MAY even actually BE gay... The point is, what gives ANYONE the right to hurl insults at someone who is a complete stranger to them? Especially at a child!! Although I know the answer to that question, it never ceases to amaze me just how cruel and evil human beings can be to each other. Imagine yourself when you were 11 years old. Now think about a time when someone said something hurtful to you. Anything. Perhaps a kid mentioned that your hair looked funny that day and you'd spent hours in front of the mirror trying to get it right because you were worried about it. Perhaps someone said that your stomach was sticking out over your belt and maybe you had spent ages getting ready for school and re-arranging your shirt, stomach and belt to try and hide it. Imagine the pain you would feel if, after all that effort, and all that self-abuse, SOMEONE ELSE told you what you already felt terrible about. That kind of thing causes irreparable damage and it'll be a constant battle for you to fight that insecurity.

EVERYBODY feels insecure at some or other point. We are constantly bombarded with how we're SUPPOSED to look if we want to be considered attractive and, unable to match up to impossible shapes and sizes, we spend our lives apologising for being less then perfect, to ourselves, and those around us. This makes it even worse when someone takes your insecurity and uses it for target practice. The ONLY reason that anyone does this is because they feel awful about themselves already and the only way for them to feel better is to make someone feel worse than they do. They simply can't handle that you have something that they want. This is how humans deal with their insecurities! How cruel can one be? The thing is that, these people who criticise, can dish it out freely, but they can't take it. We all have our soft spots. What happened to empathy? What happened to just being happy for someone? What about building each other up instead of breaking each other down? So what if Greyston Chance is not the best singer or musician you've ever heard? Who cares? Why not rather refrain from comment. He has no NEED to know your opinion. It's not going to change his life if he never knows you don't think he's any great shakes. But it WILL change if his life if you share your opinion, whether it's positive or negative.

I think the moral of the story is, if you have nothing good to say, say nothing. In other words, just shut up. Why destroy another life just because you are unhappy with yours? The world is so full of pain and hatred. Why add to it? Music is a universal language that brings people together. Instead of telling him his music is awful, read through the comments and marvel at the fact that complete strangers are being brought together and interacting positively with each other, and all because an 11 year old boy dared to take the chance and bare his soul to the world.

Ellen has discovered something precious and I am SO grateful to her for giving us the chance to be a part of something so exciting and for giving him the chance to share his talent. I am so grateful to HIM for putting his music out there. If it changes lives, isn't that a wonderful thing? How can one find ANYTHING negative in this?

Can we just stop the madness now? There are times when I feel that the earth would be a better place if human beings didn't exist! Between destroying the planet, and destroying each other, it is sometimes difficult to find the beauty in us at all. Reading those comments, I was ashamed to call myself human. It's easy to lose hope for humankind if you think too hard about it all. We are such a tiny drop in this universe. How can you even THINK that something as superficial as destroying another person's self-esteem, is going to make you feel any better if the earth is hit by a meteor in the next hour?! I know that sounds extreme but really, THAT'S the reality. There are BIGGER things than us out there and people get extremely arrogant and caught up in their sense of importance while there so many variables to take into consideration. We are here to learn and to grow and, at ANY time, that opportunity could be taken from us.

If you are not an atheist, you believe that there is SOMEONE you have to answer to at the end of it all, even if it ends up being to yourself! If you get to the other side and you have to look yourself in the eye and hold yourself accountable for the things you did, will you be able to do it honestly? I know only a handful of people that could answer yes to that question. Considering how many human beings there are in the world, I consider that terribly sad.

If you are one of those people who make it their mission to build others up, well done YOU. The world needs more people like you. If you are guilty of saying something hurtful to someone else when it really was uncalled for, and didn't apologise, shame on you. I know my words mean very little to you but I am going to ask you very nicely to try and put yourself in that other person's shoes for just a while. It's amazing what happens when you see things from someone else's perspective. It can change you and it will be a good kind of change. It'll be the kind of change that makes you grow into a better human being and you will have my respect, and the respect of other people. Whether that makes any difference to your life or not, is irrelevant. But I hope it does.

Take a moment, say something good to someone and change a life. You may be surprised to realise it's your own.