Mostly Brave

“It’s important that everyone knows I’m so much more than the bad things

 that happen to me.” – Jane ‘‘Nightbirde” Marczewski

Sometimes we learn from someone else’s battles. Bryan and I watch the TV show, America’s Got Talent. This one particular night we were watching a woman from Ohio, Jane Marczewski, who goes by the by the name of Nightbirde. She really caught my attention because there was something so calming about her presence. She talked about her battle with cancer and sang a song called, “It’s OK,” which she wrote herself. The song talks about her life, and her struggles with cancer, but it also lets the listener know that we are all a little lost sometimes, and that’s OK. If you have never seen this audition, I encourage you to look it up on YouTube. I have watched it so many times and each time it is just as meaningful to me as the last.

Before Nightbirde sang her song, she said, “It’s important that everyone knows I’m so much more than the bad things that happen to me.” Wow, I was so struck by her and by her story and her beautiful voice. She said to Simon Cowell after performing her song, “You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore before you decide to be happy.” Simon hit the Golden Buzzer and sent her straight to the finals, but later during the following weeks of the competition, Nightbirde stepped down because her cancer had spread to several places in her body and sadly, Nightbirde died on February 19, 2022. She was 31 years old. Nightbirde’s testimony of her life was a beautiful story where she chose gratefulness and happiness amongst her sadness, and it will forever be a valuable lesson learned in my life.

Why do I look at life so black and white when there are a thousand colors in between? Somewhere along the line in my life I decided that there is pain or there is happiness and there is nothing in between. The truth is, I can experience suffering and still feel the Joy of others reaching out to me, loving on me, and encouraging me. I can feel God’s presence when I call out to him which reminds me that I am never alone. 

I am not talking about always being positive but maybe, like Nightbirde, we are allowed to feel sadness and feel gratefulness at the same time. Maybe we can give ourselves permission to understand that there are times when pain is also a part of who we are, but just like Nightbirde, we can understand that pain does not need to be the greatest sum of who we are.