After picking up the kids from school, I went back to work on my computer. My son Cris, on the other hand, was singing to his guitar.
After a while, I realized that he was singing one note flat. I mean, whenever he reached one particular high note, he sang flat. I thought he just missed it, but every time he got to that high note, he sang it in the exact same way. It was odd. Cris sang well and was always in tune. Why was he singing this particular note flat?
“Cris,” I called out. “You are singing flat.”
“I know,” was the strange reply.
“Why? Is the note too high for you? Try to take it from above. Land on the note instead of going up to it from below.”
“I am doing it on purpose, Nanay. I am afraid that if I sing the high note, that I would come out too loud…”
I told Cris that he should sing the right note and not sing it flat, even if it means coming out too loud, otherwise he would be training his brain to sing the wrong key.
Then it struck me: how many of us sing flat in life, because we are afraid to “sound too loud”?
We know what is right and wrong, but when someone does wrong, we do not say anything because we are afraid to offend. Like, when we see a child being abused by an adult in public, how many of us go to the adult and tell the adult to stop because what he is doing is wrong?
We have big dreams, but how many of us give them up because we are afraid that others may think we are too ambitious?
We have potentials for being greater than we are, but how many times have we passed up the opportunity to make our mark because we were afraid to stand out and be the center of criticism?
Far too many, and far too many times. We are afraid to sound too loud, so we sing the note flat. And we do it so often that after a while, it becomes “right”. After a while, we forget what the right note was to begin with.
It is time you stopped singing it flat. You owe it to yourself. So what if the rest of the world finds you too loud. At least, if it sings with you, you will not be singing out of tune.