Personal Narrative: Swing Choir

It was a very hot and sultry April day in Philadelphia. For the past three days I was on a Goodwill Tour with a group called Swing Choir. We always said in Swing Choir that we are a missionary group that just happens to sing and dance. Our mission was to perform for the most marginalized of people and help bring some joy into their lives. However, if you were to tell this to the annoyed, hot and exhausted junior I was at the time, I probably would have rolled my eyes and told you how excited I am to go home soon. Little did I know that day, my life and my perspective on people would literally change forever. On this hot April day nothing extraordinary happened to change my perspective. The skys didn't open up with a burst of thunder, nor did I have an out of body experience where all the truth in the world became apparent to me. What did happen was very profound and …show more content…
I still remember cringing at the thought of performing in a stuffy and very humid nursing home “auditorium.” As we began to sing and dance I was furious with the fact that I could be relaxing at home during my Easter break, but instead I was sweating bullets in what felt like the hottest place in the world. This feeling went on throughout our one hour set. As we began our closing song, a feeling of excitement rushed over me! I was so enthralled with the idea of leaving this nursing home and relaxing. Then I caught the eye of a lady sitting front row in a wheelchair; she way crying tears of joy at our performance and was having the time of her life. I remember thinking to myself in that moment that I cannot even remember a time when I was that joyous about something. After our closing song all 30 of us in the group began to walk out into the audience to talk with everyone. My friend and I headed straight towards the lady in the wheelchair who looked so elated to see us high schoolers