Thursday, March 19, 2009

Max Lucado & Sue Wood

This semester, I'm taking Journalism 200 where we've been writing a lot of stories & interviewing a lot of people. Today, I'm doing a story on the bell tower. It's that ancient-looking, pointy castle beside the union. It's also known as the Altgeld Tower.
I'm sitting here, in front of the entrance to the bell tower waiting for the very narrow and obscure entrance to open. The door is placed so furtively that you'd miss it even if you walked by it a thousand times. You won't find it unless you're looking for it, attentively.
Walking around in circles, I finally asked a teacher where the entrance was. He seemed rather annoyed, maybe because he's been asked that a lot. Finally finding it, I am staring at this little door. It's at a regular height, but half it's width. There's a sheet of paper that's pasted on the front, with a picture of the swirly end of a violin and a quote:

"There are things only you can do, and you are alive to do them. In the great orchestra we call Life, you have an instrument & a song, and you owe it to God to play them both sublimely." - Max Lucado

This quote is unarguably inspirational, yet seemingly antithetical to the Chimemaster: Sue Wood. She runs the bells, and is in charge of who gets to play at the bell tower. Being an elderly woman, she seems like just another senior citizen, but she embodies Lucado's quote. One would never expect such swiftness from someone so calm and old, but Sue Wood definitely lives by the statement. She plays & arranges the music, schedules the concerts gratis.
As her experienced hands glide over the levers that ring the bells, she does it with grace and skill. Having most of the songs memorized, Wood smiles as she pushes each note. She comes back to the tower everyday, and has been for the past 37 years without fail. Her motivation? Pure enjoyment.

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