I believe that being a musician gives me the opportunity to bring people together. In a time when our society highlights our differences as negatives, one of my duties and privileges as a musician is to do the opposite; to find beauty in our differences and celebrate them. Experiencing art in all forms opens us up for personal growth. Finding a similarity between ourselves and the pure character, the evil character, or the ignorant one makes an “other” suddenly more relatable. Recognizing our commonalities helps us learn about ourselves and how we relate to others and in turn, hopefully helps us to relieve our inner and outer judgements, prejudices, and grow to be better members of society. Our experiences on either side of the stage transport to our lives outside of the performance, allowing us to shine a light on the little pieces of ourselves we may find in our neighbor.