Goodness, Righteousness and Truth

Today is Halloween, 2020. This has been a scary year for almost everyone. At times like this, some of us think about our journey, in which we look for goodness, righteousness and truth. When we search for goodness, righteousness and truth, we can do so in many ways. We can look for them in many different places. Sometimes, we find them, sometimes we don't. But, maybe, the most important thing is that we seek them in any form, in any way, no matter how elusive it turns out to be.

When I play the old Johnson Blues King Harmonica, trying to find the right notes, which to me, represent goodness, righteousness and truth, this is exactly what I'm doing. I'm seeking and searching on a medium which houses so many sounds which I respect and love. To me, they're symbols of goodness, righteousness and truth. We humans are all searchers. When we seek goodness, righteousness, and truth, we go to different places to find them. There's no one place where they exist, at least, not on this earth. But they do exist, nonetheless.

The Johnson Blues King Harmonica is hard to play because of its cheap quality. Because my playing is limited, in its own right, I don't need or deserve a fancy, expensive harp. Like most musical instruments, on the harmonica, the chords are easier to play than the notes. The notes are the ones which take us up high or drag us down below. They give our playing its soul. If we (the musicians) are ever able to find goodness, righteousness and truth, it will be in the notes and not the chords.

As I labor along on this old, wheezy harmonica, desperately seeking the magical note or notes which represent goodness, righteousness and truth, I often feel despair. I don't think I will ever find them! Not because they don't exist, but, because I'm not good, righteous or truthful enough to find them. But I'm thankful, that in this crazy world, with all my flaws and shortcomings, I still eagerly look for them. The old Johnson Blues King Harmonica is my hunting ground.

There was a book, written in 1940, entitled, "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter." The harmonica is a lonely instrument. When I play it, I'm in a world of my own. It's not like the guitar where I feel that I'm sharing myself with others, when I play it. Inside the harmonica, I'm alone, clawing for survival, trying to find my way out, but still, hopefully, leaving tracks behind me to prove that once I travelled this way. As we search, our hearts are lonely. But, when I find that special note inside this forlorn harp, I realize that the search was worth it.