The opening chords hit me, and suddenly, the air felt electric. Goosebumps prickled my arms and legs. I hadn’t heard this song in years—especially not in an open-air venue like this. The music was like a time machine, but what jolted me hardest was the realisation: this musician was gone.
And yet, here I was, being reminded of how great his band was. How powerful their presence had been in South Africa. It’s strange, isn’t it? When something or someone is right there with us, we often miss the weight of it. The value of a living, breathing artist—or anything precious—only seems to crystallise when it’s no longer there.
It’s a pattern. The everyday miracle of having good things—talent, health, love, a safe home—becomes wallpaper. We stop seeing it. We forget. And then, one day, the music plays, or a memory catches us, and it’s like a bolt from the blue.
But why wait for the shock? Why not take a moment, right now, to look at our lives and see what we’re glossing over? What’s become invisible to us because it’s always there?
Your skills and talents are more than tools—they’re gifts. Your health, often underappreciated until it stumbles, is a quiet miracle. Your connections, the people around you, the roof over your head—they are all pieces of a life that might be far richer than you realise.
There’s no need to wait for a reminder from an old song or a sudden absence. Take a fresh look. Feel the gratitude now, not only when it’s too late. Those everyday things that “make us feel, that reawaken us, that hit us out of the blue”—they’re here. They’re alive.
Sometimes, it takes the echo of a lost voice to remind us to listen while the music still plays.
