When we are sad and hurting, sometimes we turn to music for solace and understanding. Music is our friend, composers and songwriters have been where we are. That someone is willing to turn their feelings into music to be shared with others is an act of compassion
The members of the Comfort Choir practice compassion each week in the Palliative wing of Toronto East General Hospital. We are called to sing at the bedsides of the dying, seeing and feeling their pain and hoping to bring them a moment of relief, comfort, tender reminiscing, connection, and love.
Compassion becomes an act of courage, as we try to listen and respond to the shared moment, knowing we might get it wrong. We try to choose songs from our repertoire that will connect with the patient’s soul so they know that someone, a group of strangers, shares in the feeling of the song. We take requests to offer the following week, knowing it might be the last song they hear.
The hospital is a gray place, and we hope to brighten that with a short offering of beauty and care.