Who/What is the road to your heart?

13th June 2011   ·   0 Comments

By Jerome LeDoux
Contributing Columnist

As the plane hurried low toward Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, I looked to the north and saw the choked Bonnet Carré Spillway driving Mississippi River overflow waters as rapids charging under the I-10 bridge into Lake Pontchartrain.

The scene was a throwback to 1973 when I witnessed similar rapids moving posthaste from the swollen river, through the Bonne Carre Spillway, under Interstate 10 and into Lake Pontchartrain. However, this panoramic view from the air was overwhelming. It is such an arresting spectacle that police have to keep rubbernecking I-10 drivers moving.

My destination was the Rotary International 2011 convention in New Orleans where I was to emcee the welcoming musical portion, thanks to Julia Woodward Burka and her crew who had put together an awesome array of local musical talent. What a privilege!

As fully expected, headliners Dr. Michael White and The Liberty Jazz Band, Topsy Chapman and Solid Harmony, Les Gettrex and the Bluesmasters, the Treme Brass Band, and the Bruce Daigrepont Cajun Band lit up the stage with sparkling performances.

But hark! The real jolt came after the show was over and the happy audience was slowly filtering out of the hall. It was not a language barrier that impeded the folks from saying what they thought of the show, for many spoke good English. Rather, it was their stunned, happy feeling that made them heave sighs of delight for having been there.

“If nothing else at all happens while we are here in New Orleans,” one emotional lady exclaimed, “we can say that we experienced the best there is in the world! I never dreamed I would live to experience this music here in New Orleans!”

She was by no means alone in her assessment of the New Orleans musical experience.

The words “Thank you very much!” were heard repeatedly in many accents from numerous countries. As if they were slowly sipping a treasured fine wine, the happy, lingering crowd was in no hurry to disperse. They sighed, talked and laughed.

“See what you and your organizing committee have put together?”
I asked Julia.

“You have made many people happy by sharing enduring memories of this city.”

The more I pored over the joyous afternoon in my mind, the more I began to realize more than ever before how music is so close to the heart, soul, mind and life of every human being. Dozens of nationalities were affirming that music is the universal language.

But why is music the universal language? In a word, music is the universal language because, ignoring the accidental boundaries of birth, culture and speech, it goes straight to the heart. Hardly tarrying with our brain activity, music floods immediately into our heart, suffusing our emotions with the finest sounds ever devised by human beings.

“The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” According to that ancient dictum, New Orleans has a leg up on nearly every other venue, going straight to the hearts of her visitors by the mesmerizing medium of music plus the delightful magic of foods. If the one does not transport you to another world, the other or a combination of the two will.

Realizing the accuracy of this adage, alert young women take care in learning the culinary art of their mothers and other cooks in the family. This is another among many arrows in Cupid’s quiver that can help tilt in her favor the odds of finding a good spouse.

By analogy, knowing that music and food take an unerring path to our heart opens a huge door that gives us a peek into how we interact with each other in life. We ourselves are the most stirring music ever conceived and the most nourishing company imaginable What is true of music and food in our lives is much more true of the people in our midst.

Congenial, engaging people comprise the makings of a natural high that musicians over the years have attempted to capture in song Unlike any artificial high induced by a drug, the natural high of people, though it can be intoxicating, does not harm our health.

This natural high reflects a source of nourishment that can even exceed the bounds of nature, leading into the spiritual realm referenced so often by Jesus in his teachings. Yes, even we earthy humans are at times granted the gift of sharing mystically what Jesus talks about in John 4:32, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.”

Sometimes, the question is not how can someone reach your heart, but where is your heart? Jesus makes a connection between your values and the location of your heart. As we read in Matthew 6:21, “Where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.”

Happily, that is why the primary road to the heart of numerous people is neither music nor food. Rather, it is people and their values who are the primary road to the heart of each and everyone who knows and understands where the most meaningful values are in life. It may be one special person, several or many who always go straight to our heart.

That is also why some people trigger the sounds of music in our minds, hearts and very souls. As the song of yesteryear says, “Great day! There’s bells in my heart!” They are the same people who exceed the taste of exquisite foods, juices and wines, as well as the enchanting aromas of perfumes wafting from myriad blossoms and flowers.

Our sole regret in this regard is that all too few people fit that description in a very appreciable measure. True soul sisters and brothers are few. Sirach 6:6 gives the strong warning, “Let your acquaintances be many, but one in a thousand your confidant.”

The great St. Augustine affirms the same thought when he warns, “Consider yourself fortunate if you can find one true friend in your lifetime.”

From time to time, I enjoy tossing an audience this challenge, “See whether you need more than one hand to count the people in whom you have absolute, unconditional trust.”

The “Who sings prays twice” of St. Augustine can be paraphrased to say, “Who sings, plays or hears singing or music being played will find everything enhanced in life.” Yes, our prayer becomes more powerful, but so does whatever we think, say and do.

This story originally published in the June 06, 2011 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.