As we take time to celebrate the life of the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, let's not just get caught in the music that she sang but think about the POWERFUL messages that she put to music. Of course one of her most popular was R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Then we have some like, "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man", "Think", "I Knew You Were Waiting", "Freeway of Love", "Precious Lord", "A Rose Still a Rose" and "Bridge Over Troubled Water" just to name a very few of the songs she has sang during her over 40 year career. Although she may not have wrote the song or even been the first one to sing the song, once she did it, it was hers. She truly had a unique and God given voice. We should consider ourselves Blessed to have lived during the time that she did to see her do what she loved all the way up until she couldn't anymore, which wasn't that long ago. She was Blessed to have been able to do what she loved for so long and so were we.
Think about this, what if she never stepped in front of a microphone or stood on a stage because she was scared? She knew she had the skill and talent to do it but her fear got the best of her. Or what she waited to do it later, would she still be the "Queen of Soul" that we know? She would have been singing but would she have lived to her fullest potential if she had waited, a year, a month, a week, a day, an hour or even a minute to show off her gift. The window of opportunity is small. I like this saying, "The opportunities of a Lifetime must be taken within the lifetime of the opportunity". The catch to that is that we don't know how long that opportunity is so if we put off doing what we know we can, we may miss out.
This is your time. RESPECT your time enough that you don't waste. Aretha, I'm sure, would tell you don't "THINK" to hard about what you want to do. You need to just go and do it and don't wait on anyone's approval. Now is the time
Thank you Aretha Franklin, The Queen of Soul for all you did, musically and socially. You truly helped change the world whether directly or indirectly. You have made power statements for Civil Rights and Woman's Rights. You led by example and I am glad that your legacy will live on through your music and all the family, friends and fans that love you. Rest In Heaven Queen.