When I was a little girl (a very, very long time ago), I used to love learning new, really big words like ‘discombobulate’. As I grew, my love of words grew too, until I loved them so much, I could not stop writing them down.
One day, as I was scribbling a particular word, a very peculiar thing happened. The word shouted at me, “Stop! Don’t put me there!” As you can imagine, I was shocked and nearly fell off my chair. When I recovered somewhat, I said to the word, “Could you stop shouting, please? I am not used to it.”
Can you guess what happened next? No! I thought not. The word said, “I might be small, but I will misbehave if you do not use me properly. I will not tell the story you would like me to tell. I will say something entirely different!”
I dropped my pen. I hoped that by dropping my pen, the word would stop talking. Alas! It did not. It carried on chitterchobbling, even after the ink had dried. I was in a pickle. I could not allow my words to run away with my story, now could I?
I don’t know about you, but when this sort of thing happens, there is only one thing left to do if you prefer not to spend your time arguing. “Very well,” said I. “I will do as you ask if you will just be quiet and allow me to concentrate.”
Since that day, I have been paying special attention to every word I invite into my stories. After all, a story should say exactly what it means to say and not be led astray.
With love from Dr. Niamh,
Ph.D in Learning Through The Imagination and Founder of Dr Niamh Children's Books. www.drniamhchildrensbooks.com
Niamh Clune 
What a wonderful thing. Fully agreed. . .this song was relevant then, is now, and will be in many of the days to come.
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Many thanks, Janet!
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What an appropriate song to launch the New Year! It a timeless and beautiful song. There is still so much work for all of us to do in the world.
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Many thanks, Patricia. It was such a blast to perform it live at the World Summit! Such a long time ago now.
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Niamh, Niamh, Niamh! For the first time I’ve been able to access video and audio on my computer. Normally, because we live in the Aussie bush my internet is far too slow to buffer things properly and allow us to enjoy such things. This week I’ve had a mini holiday with my daughter and we have fast internet access here. What I’m trying to say is that, though I’ve known and appreciated how special you are from your writing, just hearing your beautiful, deep, resonant voice expressing this message of hope for our world and our children…has just blown me away. It’s a very special gift for what I believe is going to be an incredibly powerful 2013! May God continue to hold and nurture you as you fulfil your much-needed, unique purpose. xxx Mel
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Thank you so much! I am so happy that you like my song and that you took the time to leave a comment. All things bright to you in the New year!
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I love this song. It is so powerful. You and your daughter sound terrific together as you both sing with passion. Blessings to both of you.
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many thanks Darlene. It was one of the great blessings on my life to be able to sing this with my daughter.
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Many thanks for reblogging my reblog! Maybe that’s a way to make this little song of mine that I wrote so long ago for the World Summit go viral Just a thought!). It was such a privilege to sing 9t with my daughter at the opening ceremony of the World Summit in Johannesburg…What a story that was! Getting there against all the odds. But that seems to be the story of my life…doing things against all the odds.
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Wonderful. Simply wonderful.
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Glad you like it, Erik!
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It really should be the anthem for the Revolution. I think Anonymous would agree. It’s the song of HOPE. We need your words and music. I do wish We Are the Voice would go viral! 😎
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Thank you. Much appreciated.
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