I was listening to a presentation yesterday given by NPR's Jay Allison. Chemonics (the organization where I work) had a big leadership conference and invited him to come speak. Jay Allison gave a presentation on the power of story and in particular the power of voice in story. He spoke of the fact that sound is the first sense to begin as a fetus in the womb and the last sense to leave you before you die. The power of sound is an incredible thing.
He also talked about one point in his career when he asked his audience to pull out old recordings and share them on the radio. During this exercise, most people who came forward with some old recording to share did not have old music but rather had saved recordings of their loved ones. While a picture is somewhat removed, the sound of someone's voice is something that reaches your heart and soul in a very precious way.
I loved this and of course immediately thought of Jason and the mounds of video that has been sitting in my dresser for the past three years, collecting dust. Since Jason loved film, the last few years of his life were pretty well documented. Our family is so lucky to have this reservoir of not only Jason sound but Jason video. It's such a treat and yet also so hard to watch that I must admit I rarely bring it out. But Jay Allison inspired me.
And so last night I went through some of Jason's video. I'm sure I've seen all of it already, so none of it was particularly new but it felt so good to share some time with Jason again, and to get to hear his voice and see his smile.
This particular clip I pulled from a much longer video he had made for my sister Carise. The banter in the clip back and forth about Jason's beautiful sister I wish was about me, but alas it's about Carise. Sigh, she always was the pretty one. ;)
So, as you watch this, I hope you can find the magic of sound and how lucky we all are to get to have Jason's voice with us for the remainder of our days.
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