“The Power of Destiny”

When Jared, Audrey, and Toby were teenagers, they attended their temple's Torah School — and more specifically, its teen group. One of their weekly activities was discussing everyday social and moral issues, like peer pressure or drug use.

A particularly memorable lesson was led by Paul Hxylx, a temple member who happened to be a professional music producer. The topic was clearly dear to Paul's heart: the ethics of downloading music illegally. This was before streaming existed, so getting music on the go usually meant either buying it from iTunes or downloading it illegally.

Paul didn't really leave room for debate — downloading music illegally was unequivocally wrong. It was stealing the fruit of a songwriter's labor, and to illustrate his point, he decided to lead the group in writing a pop song. He wanted to show them just how much hard work it took.

As a class, everyone shouted out various ideas for the song. Many were discarded immediately. Paul alone decided which elements would stay.

After several minutes of deliberation, it was decided that the song would be about a girl named Destiny, who was 17 years old. She was to have light brown hair and an “easy” smile. She may have appeared “perfect” in public, but her home life wasn't what it seemed... Or something. (Jared suggested giving Destiny “blue hair” and “blonde eyes,” which was swiftly ignored.)

The song was called “The Power of Destiny.”

Paul wrote a tune to go with it. The lyrics went:

Destiny is seventeen

All guys think she's heavenly

Light brown hair and easy smile

A perfect show of modesty

Then, it picked up:

But her friends, they don't know

That her life, back at home

Is a big show...

(That is all that is currently remembered.)

Notably, Paul spoke English as a second language. As he was the one who organized all of their lyrical ideas, any awkward grammatical errors were his own doing, and not those of the group.

Overall, the lesson wasn't very successful. The group did not put much work into constructing the song, which undermined Paul's whole point. They didn't feel a strong connection to it and wouldn't have cared if anyone downloaded it, illegally or not.

Other than morality in general, the lesson also didn't feel particularly connected to Jewish teachings, which was presumably the whole point of going to Torah School in the first place.

Everyone else forgot the song and the lesson immediately upon leaving for the day. Jared, Audrey, and Toby, however, sing it almost every single time they speak to each other.  ❒

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