It Matters to Me…

It Matters to Me

I am passionate about social justice. Growing up, I dreamt of solving huge world problems. I had small goals like ending world hunger, creating peace and stopping violence. Right now, I am writing from Washington D.C. where I am staying temporarily in order to do work with prevention and treatment of human trafficking. When I started making music, I thought maybe my music would help someone find meaning – or at least some comfort – when they were alone or afraid or depressed. I thought those were difficult but attainable goals.

These days, I think it’s a monumental feat when I feed myself for a week. Talk about managing expectations!

A lot of my recent music talks about the dissonance between who we are and who we thought we would be. It’s also about maturing into a more nuanced worldview, one that sees small tasks of kindness, even just to myself, as life-changing and world-saving. A friend recently told me of a Jewish saying from the Talmud; it’s something about if you save one person, it is as if you are saving the world. There is more to the quote that alters its meaning, but I really like that part. And what if that one person can be yourself? What if the act of being kind, generous, and loving, even in small ways, is what saves us all?

I have had many long conversations with friends and fans about wanting to lead a meaningful life – even about what a “meaningful life” really is. It Matters To Me was born out of those conversations, and that striving to get my youthful dreams of saving the world in line with my adult understanding of limitations – my own and others’. So maybe we cannot stop world hunger, but we can feed one person. Maybe we cannot stop human trafficking or violence altogether in this lifetime, but we can at least stand in the way of people who would run unopposed without our taking a stand. Maybe we are a molehill in the face of a mountain, or maybe being kind in our interactions chips away more than we think, and makes more of a difference. Molehills matter. Kindness matters. Your support of my music may not be stopping world hunger, but it matters to me. You matter to me.

IT MATTERS TO ME LYRICS (Kat Parsons, Wil Seabrook)
When you feel your fighting life’s battles
let down, broken and rattled
when you fear your voice is left shattered, to drown in the sea

it matters to me
it matters to me

when you feel your stuck in a downpour
and the weight is much more than you asked for
when you know there’s a heaviness in store that no one can see

it matters to me
it matters to me
when the skies are dark and you can’t find your way
searching for a spark, for a reason to stay
it matters to me
it matters to me

i’ve fought shadows before
they’ll swallow you whole
but i know that there’s more to be seen out here

it matters to me
it matters to me
when the skies are dark and you can’t find your way
searching for a spark, for a reason to stay
it matters to me
it matters to me

(If you haven’t heard this song, you can listen and get the album at the “listen/store” tab above.)
*oh, i get by with a little help from my friends: Thanks, as always, to Jodi Elliott for her writing and editing expertise.

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