Every so often you hear a story that you feel you must tell and the main reason is  to keep others from making such a terrible mistake……Years ago, a second grade class was putting on a program. All the class was singing in a part of it. The teacher did not like the way one little girl sounded and offered her a quarter to not sing, telling her to just mouth the words. It upset and hurt the little girl terribly and her dad even made a trip down to the school house to address his anger to the teacher. That prompted that little girl to never sing again, never, ever,  because her voice was so terrible, at least she thought that must be right for her teacher to do such a thing. To this day, many years have passed and she will not sing.  I hope and pray that none of my readers would ever be quilty of such a thing. Singing it not so much about sounding good as it is letting the joy escape from ones heart. Shame on that teacher for putting such a burden and damper on that little girl, one who today is now in her golden years, but she will not sing because of being paid a quarter to not sing. Just writing about it makes me sad…I wonder how much joy has been surpressed over the years because someone told her she could not sing……I sing in the shower, while working in the yard, walking around the house, sometimes even while shopping….and it is not about me sounding good or pretty, its about me being happy and releasing it from the inside…….Shame, shame on that second grade teacher….Pete