Music is a universal language. It’s something we all know and speak, yet it touches each and every one of us in a different way. It may be that the song that you and your best friend are listening to in the car brings her to tears, but it makes your heart smile. That one special line of a song might make your dad scream out his lungs and channel his inner child, while it makes your mother slowly dance around the room. Whatever it makes us all do, regardless of how diverse our reactions are, we all are moved by music.

There’s so many cliché sayings regarding music. For instance: “Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.” One of my favorites, however, is, “Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.” I’m not quite sure who came up with those quotes, but I like them and agree with them.

Whether music includes lyrics or is just a rhythm composed with multiple instruments, it speaks to your soul. Have you ever been in a mood and you just can’t describe how you’re feeling, but then a song comes on, and it’s so perfect, and it says all the things you couldn’t? That’s what music does for me and so many other people in my life. Music is so beautiful and inspirational but also heartbreaking and tragic. There are so many emotions that music encompasses that the human race has not identified, because music expresses that which cannot be said (the emotion cannot be written down in words in a dictionary).

As I write this I realize that I am jumping from one thought to the next, and I’m kind of all over the place, but I think it works, because it’s like music. One minute you’re belting out your heart to “Bohemian Rhapsody” and the next minute you’re crying your eyes out to “How to Save a Life.” Music makes it okay for you to be happy one minute and sad the next. It allows for you to feel certain ways that society may not approve of. You can scream lyrics to a heavy metal song, and because you’re channeling your feelings through music, no one will hide their child from you in fear that you may murder them. It’s great!

I can’t imagine a world before music was so present and easily accessible. How did people survive car rides? Did anyone even have the motivation to exercise? Were people lucky enough to not have to endure that awkward moment when a slow song comes on at your middle school dance and you’re standing there resenting the DJ, because you’re a 13 year old girl with acne who still thinks boys have cooties?

Did life even exist before music?

Answer: I think not.

A lot of people will say that music from my (this) generation sucks. I won’t completely disagree. However, while there is disastrous musical compositions today, there are also brilliant pieces! It’s the same as it was 50 years ago. Everything in life has good and bad parts to it. Example number one: the human race. There are good seeds (humanitarians) and bad seeds (serial killers), just like there are good songs (“Hello” by Adele) and bad songs (“Worth It” by Fifth Harmony.) So stop saying that music in this generation sucks: though I do prefer “oldies” hits- if that’s what it’s called.

Take a moment to really think about the next few things I’m about to write down.

Isn’t it incredible that there is something in the world that can bring so many people together, regardless of their race, age, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, religion, etc.? There is something that can change someone’s mood in the matter of three short minutes. There is something that can change someone’s life, give them hope, make them smile and feel alive for the first time in a long time. This something is timeless. It will never go away. There will always be something to bring people together, change someone’s mood or even their life.

That miraculous something is music. It’s something we all take for granted at times, because it is so accessible and always incorporate in to some aspect of our lives. So, the next time that you hear your favorite song on the radio, let the lyrics speak to your soul and sing your heart out until there is nothing left but joy and happiness and appreciation for this wonderful blessing that we all have: music.