Want to know what gratitude sounds like?
Listen to the proud cacophony of nearly 900 string instruments swelling through a Performing Arts Center.
Hear the capacity applause.
Want to know what it feels like?
Run your fingers over hand-built and wheel-thrown pottery, touch a lead-dusted sketch pad, lift a piece of fabricated metal.
Want to know what it looks like?
See the precision stitching on theatre costumes, watch the set pieces move, enjoy the proud faces of students as they take their bows.
Last night, as I sat at the All City Strings Festival, I thought for the 900th time about how grateful I am to live in a community that supports the arts.
It isn’t, of course, just the quality of the music, although, I must say, the Variations of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star never sounded better.
It isn’t even the quantity, though, again, the collective force of that many orchestra students, from tiny violinists through senior virtuosos paints an impressive portrait of promise.
It’s the opportunity.
Thanks to available funds, any student can learn to play an instrument, throw a pot, project a voice, write a poem, sing a song, choreograph a dance.
We’re sending students out into the world who have learned to create, how thrilling is that?
Even better, thanks to programs funded by your tax dollar, they’ve developed the confidence to try.
Just think of those possibilities.
So, on this National Income Tax Day, when we’re all a little frustrated about the money going out of our accounts, I want to say thank you to the property tax payers in my school district.
Just look how your investment has grown!
