What I've learned from William Wilberforce

This evening I subdued my 'stick-in-the-mud' nature and crept out into society for a night of friendship, pizza, and movie with my sister and some friends. As well as a lovely time spent cultivating new and old friendships, I was especially touched by the movie we watched, "Amazing Grace," the story of William Wilberforce and his endeavours to abolish the slave trade in Great Britain. Although I'd seen this movie twice before, the story resonated within me tonight as it had never done before, and I was startled to find myself blinking back tears.

Wilberforce and his supporters changed their world. Slave traders were cruel beyond description in their treatment of the African slaves, but many of the current politicians' hearts were hardened when faced with the plight of these poor people. The financial benefit produced by the slave traders was a greater concern to these men than the welfare of their fellow human beings. Wilberforce, however, was haunted by accounts how African men, women, and children were transported across the oceans in conditions not fit for animals to survive, let alone humans created in the image of God. Having recently become a Christian (One of my favourite quotes from "Amazing Grace": "Have you found God, sir?" Wilberforce, "I think He found me."), Wilberforce first thought he would need to quit politics in order to serve God, but he was urged by friends that by fighting to abolish the slave trade, he was serving God using the gifts he had been given. This encourages me, because it is easy to think we are not able to "change the world" unless we go out and do something extraordinarily spectacular. Not so! Wilberforce was a politician --a brilliant one, to be sure-- and God used him *as a politician* not as a missionary, nor a martyr. Even so, God can use each of us in the workplaces, communities, families, countries, even universities that we find ourselves living in today just as he uses missionaries and martyrs in lands hostile to the Gospel.

The other point that I took out from the movie was how long the battle raged before slavery was abolished. I am awestruck when I consider Wilberforce campaigned for twenty years or so to persuade the British Parliament to pass his bill. *Twenty* years!!!! Yes, he experienced times of discouragement, but he never lost his passion to eradicate the inhumane treatment towards the African people. While it is easy for us in the 21st century to express horror from our armchairs at the thought of what those slaves endured centuries ago, especially when you believe God created all men equal, Wilberforce publically spoke out against his own countrymen and encountered much slander, condemnation, and betrayal along the way. No doubt God strengthened him to endure these hardships and sustained him throughout those seemingly endless years of fruitless labour.

William Wilberforce's testimony has convicted me. In my own life I find I all too frequently adopt the dangerously soporific attitude of indifference. I like to be considered a 'safe' person, a boring stick-in-the-mud who doesn't cause disturbances, but tonight I am ashamed of that. Of course it's easier to say nothing; of course it's safer to keep quiet about what you stand for; of course it's more comfortable to blend in with the crowd; but I will never abolish the "slave traders" of this world if I do.

A linguistical discovery pertaining to a much understated dialect

It's late. My practical brain tells me I should be asleep, or at least on my way towards it. But I'm not. And I don't wish to be, for I am indulging in a discovery I made concerning a delightful language I'm learning. It's an emotional language that requires dedication and constant engagement if one wishes to develop an adequate vocabulary. It's a universal language, spoken in different dialects all across the world. It's a personal language, one which not everyone fully understands. It's the language of music.

I've been learning this language since I was 5 years old. I'm now 19 and a half. But today I felt that I realised a whole new world of possibilities. I discovered that as well as a student of this language, I am also a creator of it, that no one will ever speak it exactly the same way as I do, whether it be through the medium of composition, arrangement, or performance. Each time I listen to an artist, I am presented with a picture, an emotion, a colour they have strived to create and express. Maybe I will like it; maybe I will not. Perhaps I will thrill with excitement and awe; perhaps I will cringe in pain. Similarly, each time I play my music, the one who listens will respond in some way.

Perhaps this sounds crazy. Perhaps it sounds obvious. To me it sounds life-changing.

From today I will probably define the role of any true music teacher as that of aiding their student to express their own interpretation of a piece of music. At first, they probably need to present their pupil with a definite tone or colour to create, as most early learners don't yet realize what they are out to achieve (For a beginner pianist, the early excitements and achievements come in learning middle C is middle C; in learning "Chopsticks" or "Fur Elise"; in passing an exam or two. I speak from experience, can you tell?!). But the next or concurrent stage is to help their charge to cultivate an ear for music, not just notes. From there they are to assist them to express the music they hear and feel to the best of their ability. I was told from an early age I had a good ear for music, but I seem to have stumbled at the next hurdle. For years I have waited to be told *how* to play, assuming that to successfully create music by myself I had to somehow imitate what those far above me in terms of technique, experience, and opportunities were doing. Until today I never fully understood the freedom I have as a musician in my own right. I am not just one of thousands and thousands of music students listening wistfully to the famous artists all around the globe! I have tutors all around me from whom I learn much, but from me they too will learn, albeit a tiny, almost insignificant modicum it may seem.

How I finally discovered this will unfortunately take too long to recount here and now, but as my musical journey continues I know I will look back on today as the day when I acknowledged how important music is as a language to me. I think I now long to speak it even better than I speak English. So much of playing music requires listening to yourself, something I have struggled with constantly. Discovering what I did today, I now want to play more and more, and listen to every note, asking myself as I go whether I am expressing myself as fully as I would wish to, whether I am conveying to those around me the sense of awe and thankfulness I feel to God for His gift of music. I declare I would sacrifice my sleep to play the piano if I could do so without disturbing my family and neighbours. But as I cannot, I can do the next best thing, and sleep so I may be refreshed to play tomorrow. Goodnight!