One of my old friends passed me a video clip on Jane Kristen Marczewski, who passed away at age 31 last month in San Clemente, California.
It was about her original song, “It’s OK,” which she performed
for America's Got Talent, a popular NBC program, in June 2021. Her authentic
story of transforming her suffering into hope touched the judges and viewers
alike and gave much courage and inspiration to people around the world. Simon
Cowell gave her a “Golden Buzzer” during her performance.
“It’s OK” is about the story of the last year of Marczewski’s
life dealing with cancer. The lyrics are as follows:
“I moved to California in the summertime.
I changed my name thinking that it would change
my mind.
I thought that all my problems would stay
behind.
I was a stick of dynamite and it just was a
matter of time, yeah.
Oh dang, oh my, now I can’t hide.
Said I knew myself but I guess I lied.
It’s OK. It’s OK. It’s OK. It’s OK.
If you’re lost, we’re all a little lost and it’s
all right.
It’s all right. It’s all right. It’s all right
...
I wrote a hundred pages but I burned them all.
I blow through yellow lights and don’t look
back at all …
Don’t know why I take the tight rope and cry
when I fall …
It’s alright to be lost sometimes.”
Marczewski was born in Zanesville, Ohio, in 1990. She had
three siblings and started to write song lyrics at age six. She volunteered to
participate in various church ministries. She studied communications and graduated
from Liberty University in 2013.
She enjoyed singing, and her professional name was “Nightbirde.”
She pondered the birds singing outside her window at night in anticipation of
the morning. She had her first live performance in 2011 and played acoustic
guitar in a style mixing folk and pop.
When she married musician Jeremy Claudio in 2014, she moved to
Nashville, Tennessee, in 2015 and gave up singing for three years.
By the time she suffered from breast cancer in 2017, Claudio
had left her. Nevertheless, she overcame her cancer in 2018, but she later
found out that the cancer had metastasized to her lungs, spine and liver in
2019. In the end, she was given three to six months to live with only a
2-percent chance of survival.
She moved to Long Beach, California, and made up her mind to
renew her singing activities in order to be truly happy. She sang hope in the
midst of darkness. In spite of all the struggles, she had her bright smile,
shining face, beautiful glow and encouraging words.
When she passed the auditions, she was happy to brighten the
eyes of people around the world. She had her faith in Jesus Christ as well as a
sense of humor that made her go beyond her difficult situation and limitations
of life.
She eventually passed away, but she still inspires lots of
people through her music.
“It is important that everybody knows that I am so much more
than the bad things that happen to me.”
“I had a 2-percent chance of survival, but 2 percent is not 0
percent. Two percent is something, and I wish for people to know how amazing it
is.”
“You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore before you
decide to be happy.”
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2022/03/162_325636.html
The Korea Times/ Thoughts of the Times/ March 20 (online), 21 (offline), 2022
“괜찮아”
“여름에
캘리포니아로 이사했어요.
이름을
바꾸면 마음도 바뀔 것 같아 내 이름을 바꾸었지요.
내
모든 문제가 더는 나를 따라오지 않으리라 생각했어요.
내
인생은 마치 시한폭탄과 같아 모든 것이 시간 문제였어요.
아, 이런, 이젠 숨길 수도 없어요.
나는
나 자신을 안다고 말했지만 거짓말한 것 같아요
그래도
괜찮아, 괜찮아, 괜찮아,
괜찮아.
당신이
지금 길을 잃었다면 우리도 마찬가지에요.
그러니
괜찮아, 괜찮아, 괜찮아......
백
페이지가 넘는 글을 썼지만 모두 태워버렸어요.
노란
불빛을 뚫고 지나가더라도 뒤돌아보지 않으면 되요……
나는
왜 팽팽한 밧줄을 잡아당기다 넘어지면 우는지 몰라요……
가끔은
길을 잃어도 괜찮아요.”
마르크제프스키는 1990년 오하이오 주 제네스빌에서 태어났다. 제인에게는 세 형제자매들이
있었고, 제인은 6살 때 노래 가사를 쓰기 시작했다. 제인은 다양한 교회 봉사활동에 자원하여 참여했고, 커뮤니케이션을
공부한 다음 2013년 리버티 대학Liberty University을
졸업했다.
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