by S. Murray

Created on: October 18, 2008

"Choose Me"

The children gathered around the basketball hoop and all began raising their hands, jumping, and shouting "choose me" as the older kids began "choosing" their teams. Excitement filled the air, all of the children wore looks of anticipation on their faces. The crowd began to thin down as player after player was chosen and each took their place on their teams' side of the court. Across the court, you could see a man looking through the fence at the events taking place and he smiled, remembering childhood games.

The gentleman looked past the last few children on the court and saw a small, thin boy standing in the background with his head hung low, looking lonely. The boy was hurting inside because he knew he would not get picked to play, he never did. Finally, the boy was the last child standing, all the teams were full and he was told that they did not need him to play. The young child turned and walked away, rejected. The man at the fence felt a tug on his heart because he knew how much it hurt inside not to be chosen. He remembered asking "choose me, choose me", but he was not always chosen either. So, the man and the boy both walked away, each in separate directions, once again feeling the hurt of not being "chosen".

Across town another choice was being made as to whether someone would be "chosen". A piano recital was being held in a very influential part of town, children from all across the nation were being given the opportunity to "play" for an "open scholarship" in the Julliard School of Music. The opening only became available once a year and was very exclusive. Children of all ages were there. Some were tall, thin, short, chubby, shy, pretty or plain but mostly all of them were financially well off. The concert hall was full of contestants, their parents, their teachers and friends. The lines formed as they began registering to get their line up position to play. The rules were: play one song for a minimum of 5 minutes and they would be scored on varied levels of skill and presentation.

The young girl was 12, tall and thin. Her hair was long and tidy. The clothes she wore were clean yet well worn. Her hands were slim, elegant and bore the mark of a good pianist. The teacher had taken the girl on as a student after a friend had heard her play at a local music store. The girl refused the lessons at first approach because she did not want to feel like a charity case so the teacher agreed to charge her 5.00 per lesson instead of the usual 45.00

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