Destiny

Last Sunday, I had the chance to view Hans Zimmer in person in Vancouver. It was a spectacular performance and an extraordinary night I will cherish forever.

It is the work of Hans that inspired my musical journey with the piano. If god or heaven had an anthem, I think his work on Interstellar is as close as we can get as humans to feeling whatever that anthem would try to communicate.

Something about Hans stood out to me during that concert. He didn’t just feel like another person as he stood on that stage. Firstly, he is not just an incredible composer and musician, but a wonderful, appreciative, and kind human being. He spent the entire concert introducing us to his band and telling stories of what makes them all special, and every single time they bowed and seemed a bit embarrassed — very humanizing. I’m sure it must feel great to be praised by someone like Hans and celebrated by a stadium of thousands that you’ve dreamed of performing for since you were a kid.

At one point, Hans finished giving praise to one of his musicians, and he introduced the next suite they were going to play: the Lion King. The crowd roared, and he stood there taking it all in.

His name is literally Hans Zimmer. Hans Zimmer. Can you imagine an accountant named Hans Zimmer? The name Hans Zimmer sounds destined for an artist, a musician. As I looked at him, I realized that I could not see anything else he could be doing at that moment. He had to stand on that stage and bring together the best musicians in the world to perform their hearts out for us. He had to tell stories that made us laugh and perform music that made us cry. I cannot imagine someone named Hans Zimmer doing anything else at that moment; it was meant to be.

I felt like it was not just fate, but destiny that brought him there. He had to be a musician and there was no other possibility. All the things that had to go right for him to stand on that stage, in that moment, had gone right. There he stood, proud and perhaps momentarily fulfilled, as the light dimmed and he continued performing his life’s work for us.

I now wonder, is destiny real? Perhaps it is not, and is a concept sold to us by literature, Hollywood, and the media as part of the “Hero’s Journey”. If this is the case, it is the single best thing the media has ever tried to sell us.

Isn’t it a special thing? All it takes is one starry-eyed kid to look at Hans, or some other legend, and think “Maybe I can be Hans Zimmer to someone else”. Then, perhaps everything will go right and another starry-eyed kid will gaze upon them, on a stage of their own performing their life’s work, and think “Maybe I can be Hans Zimmer to someone else”.