Don’t forget to find a way to let your voice be heard

I greeted my stepdad on Father's Day and sat down to watch the game show "Don't Forget the Lyrics" with him. I'd never seen it before, and it was engaging. The show brings a variety of people in to sing songs in categories including (but not limited to) Lionel Richie, divas, breakup songs, rock, legends and ‘60s. Each contestant chooses a category and then has a choice between two songs to sing. The music begins and the contestant can look up at the words displayed as he or she sings. Eventually, the words disappear and dashes are shown - one dash per missing word. The singer needs to fill in the dashes with the correct words, or the game ends there for him or her.

This particular contestant was hurting my ears with his off-key yowling.

"Ow, wow, that's just wrong!" I said as the man screeched his way through the song.

My stepdad laughed and said, "But it doesn't matter! You don't have to be able to sing; you just have to know the words."

So people's voices, even those who maybe don't have a particularly pleasant, melodic sound to them, can be heard ... and can win a lot of money! Can you imagine, knowing you can't carry a tune (I'm thinking of my own way off-key warbling) but letting that screeching voice of yours be heard in front of millions of people ... if it meant you'd walk away from the experience thousands of dollars richer? It would sound like a good deal to me, if I actually knew more words to more songs!

Just because I don't know all the words to all the songs out there doesn't mean I don't want to have a voice and for it at least occasionally to be heard. I think we all need to have a voice and not let embarrassment or someone else, for whatever reason, take that voice away from us. I'm glad I work for a newspaper that encourages its readers to make their voices heard - there is no such thing as the perfect pitch or even knowing all the right words!

Every week, The Lima News designers coordinate with editors of The Putnam Voice and The Van Wert Voice to put together papers for Putnam and Van Wert counties. Editors Nancy Kline and J.D. Bruewer give the people in those counties a voice. Voices from all kinds of people are heard: those making and receiving donations, those bestowing and accepting awards and honors, and those who want to inform, educate, invite and remind, to name a few.

The Lima News and our Voices welcome readers to submit their opinions on countless issues, via letters to the editor. You don't even have to use a stamp; you can comment on our Web sites on stories, columns and letters you read, or photographs you see. You can express agreement or disagreement, or you can point out something you think is important. Maybe you're not a writer, but you love taking photographs or are a whiz at video. Our Web sites also give you a chance to download photographs or video and voice your achievements, your joys, your challenges - whatever you want to voice.

If singing, writing and photography aren't your favorite ways to let your voice be heard, there are many other ways to allow someone to hear your voice. You never know who wants or needs to hear it: family, friends, co-workers, someone seeking information, someone needing advice. One of the great things about our country is that all our voices are free to be heard, in countless ways, provided we do not harm anyone in making our voices heard.

If there is no harm involved, voices don't have to blend in harmony ... like the show "Don't Forget the Lyrics," what's important is remembering the words you want to say and saying them, even if you believe your voice cracks on the high notes.