Sincerity

A teenage girl stood at the microphone with the audience looking down from bleacher seats. She momentarily stood and stared back. Then she reached for the microphone.

When she spoke, no sound came out. The audience could not hear a word. But a teacher came to the rescue and flipped a switch, and then she was live.

She announced the next song the band was about to play. She gave its title and named the composer. She told a little history. She fumbled with a word or two, and a look of horror came over her while she struggled to get back on track.

Yet to the crowd, she had never stumbled. To them, she was only telling a story about a song and a composer. To them, her slip made no more difference than between two people speaking on the phone.

It was no more important than forgetting a detail in a ghost story told over a campfire at night. Or mispronouncing a word in a story to children at bedtime. Or missing a note on a guitar in a room full of family singing along.

Her stumble made no difference. She should know this. All kids should know this and learn to talk sincerely and not dwell on giving a speech.

Because in the end, it is only sincerity that counts.

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