A Pin Drop

It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Believe me, that doesn't happen in middle school choir.

It was a 6:58 minute video. Six or seven minutes isn't much time in the scheme of 60 minutes in the hour or 45 minutes in the class period. It's a grand total of 418 seconds.

But instead of the usual scuffling and whispering and undercurrent of noise, there was silence. Total silence.

There was silence until the music teacher reminded the kids they need to appreciate their lives. And he asked them to reevaluate the next time they said, "I can't."

Patrick Henry Hughes may not be big in stature. But I pray his impact is huge. He was born without eyes. His limbs don't straighten, so he's never walked. But he plays piano. He sings. He plays the trumpet. He was in the University of Louisville marching band. Yep, the marching band. (Let's just say he has a pretty amazing Dad, too.)

This is an excerpt from Patrick's book, I Am Potential: Eight Lessons on Living, Loving and Reaching Your Dreams:

On the day I was born, you might say I arrived carrying a bag full of lemons, not the kind of thing my family had in mind. I think they would have preferred oranges; they’re sweeter and have less bite. But life is what it is and you just have to keep going. You can’t change lemons into oranges, no matter how hard you try. But just because you can’t do that doesn’t mean you give up. Mom and Dad taught me you have to hang in there and learn to deal with what happens to you. And once you do, you discover that lemons are pretty cool and you can make something better out of them, like lemon meringue pie. One of my favorites.

You better believe he and his parents are expert lemonade makers. Here's the video. I hope the middle school kids remember it. I know this middle school piano accompanist will.



I had seen stories about Patrick before. But this was 6:58 minutes well spent. If you want to know more about Patrick, check out this website.