Beautiful Noise

One day, many years ago when I was a teenager, I was sitting alone in my room playing my guitar.  No, I wasn’t strumming chords and singing folk songs.  I was turning the amp up to eleven and letting the notes cry out at the top of their lungs.  Blues notes rang out dripping in distortion and feedback.  I got lost in how it all resonated deep within my chest as I spilled my guts through the screams of the guitar.

I looked up for a second and saw my Grandma watching me from the hallway with a huge smile on her face.

I stopped playing as the magic of the moment passed.

“That sure is some purty music!”

Now, my Grandma’s idea of good music was more “I’ll Fly Away” dressed in full bluegrass attire.

I’m sure she would never have listened to Jimi Hendrix doing blues riffs and said it was “purty” music.

I’m fairly certain she only thought it was “purty” is because I was making it happen.

For all these years, looking back and seeing Grandma smile and tell me my music was “purty” makes me feel good inside every time I remember it.  I like to think she was able to see deeper than what she liked or disliked and could see something beautiful in all that noise.

It really reminds me that before I judge others, I need to look deeper than just what I like or dislike.  I may not like something but there may be something beautiful happening below what I might just call noise.

That’s really all I have to say.  I think it is important to stop discounting everything I don’t like as just noise and look deeper.  Not everyone that says what I don’t like is too stupid to listen to.  There may be some beauty in there somewhere.

I think beauty is worth searching for.