Things so beautiful they make us weep

The other night I was watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and talking with Jodi. I mentioned how the scene where Charlie finds the ticket in his candy bar always makes me cry. She asked why, and I said that it's such a beautiful thing--for a deserving person to get exactly what they want. Not to have to work for it always, but for all the stars to align for a good person who deserves a bit of luck and it just happens. It's magic, I think, and that's what always makes me tear up at that moment. That, followed up by his grumpy grandpa saying "There's lots of money. They're printing more every day." And he tells Charlie to use the ticket rather than sell it.

Jodi said that what had made her cry from beauty was Where the Hell is Matt?. I clicked to it, and I haven't really been the same since. I watched it, and though Matt's dancing didn't make me cry (I did appreciate the profound message of it), what moved me, and continues to move me, was the song he dances to.

I downloaded the song and have listened to it almost non-stop for three days. I mean that. I've listened to it almost a hundred times at home on itunes and it's the only song I play in my car. I heard it in my head during my bio test and it got me through it. This has been a tough week--a tough five weeks, really--and this song overwhelms me with the feeling that absolutely anything is possible. The combination of strings and piano with the singer's incredible voice is beyond the pale. It's the sort of beautiful music that makes my chest hurt because I can't breathe for the wonder of it. It makes me smile, it makes me cry, it makes me feel like the moment I'm in is the most exquisite moment of my life.

So, it's a good song.

The song is called Praan, and I've wondered non-stop about who the singer is. I assumed she was an Indian woman hanging out in India (mostly because the words of the song aren't a language I recognize--I sound like a braying donkey when I try to sing along.) I googled her, googled the song, googled everything I could think of.

Come to find out thanks to channel 9, the singer, whose voice has filled my soul with a joy and wonder I haven't felt in a long time, is a 17 year old girl from Minneapolis. Her name is Palbasha Siddique, and the song is in Bengali. I wish I could call her up and tell her how much this song has moved me. She was paid $1000 for the song, which is akin in my mind to Edgar Allan Poe's $12 for The Raven.

Beautiful things that make us weep should be celebrated. The feeling of joy that swells within and threatens to burst out all on its own is so rare and, well, beautiful. Whatever its source, weeping for joy and love and beauty is a thing to be treasured.