The Chamber Choir that Dwindled in Unbelief and Other Unrelated Topics (and by the way, I'm really sick of being sick!)

This years chamber choir is kind of falling apart from the inside out. I've been thinking about the causes lately, which is a stretch for me because I usually don't analyze things very deeply. I'll start by explaining the previous choir attitude as opposed to this years'. Last year chamber choir was the thing to do. Everyone wanted to be a part of it because they could see what a bond we had with each other and how much fun we had. There's just something about singing in a good choir. I can't even explain the feeling. I just love...connecting with other people. When you sing you are all working together to make a certain sound, and for me it is a very emotional experience. It's kind of like a runners high. You could be having an absolutely horrendous day, which happens a lot, and when you go to choir and sing you become so caught up in making beautiful music that it all falls away. This year, something is not the same, that much is apparent. There are several of our key singers that are not coming back next year because they haven't had fun in choir, or aren't getting along with someone this year.
As I mentioned before, I have been giving the cause of this rift lots of thought and contemplation. Last night (or this morning, whichever you prefer) around 4 I had an epiphany. When my brother came home from his mission he was talking about a "virus" that they had in the mission. It all started with 2 missionaries, 1 companionship. They decided that the rules and duty's of a mission weren't written for them, so they decided to live by their own rules. Well, these missionaries became trainers, taught them their bad habits, and those missionaries became trainers, and so on. It didn't take long for the attitude of these two influential missionaries to spread throughout almost the entire mission. Well, I think that this is the exact thing that has happened in our choir. All it takes is one influential person to start complaining, and everyone else follows their example. If people complain enough they eventually start to believe what they are saying. I have watched it happen all year, and not realized until now that it was the cause of the bad attitude of our choir. It is very difficult to feel the bond that is usually characteristic of a chamber choir. The person that started it all was not difficult to point out. This person was also a complainer last year, but she was not in a position of leadership, and therefore was easily thwarted. This year they are a mighty senior, and I might add a very good singer, and many of the students look up to his/her. This person is not shy about voicing their opinions, which are more often than not quite pessimistic. They are constantly back-stabbing the teacher to anyone who will listen. Our choir wasn't this way at the beginning of the year, and now that I think of it, I can see how it became infected. Slowly more and more people began complaining about the littlest things until many of them don't have anything good to say about the choir because all they have concentrated on for so long was the negative. This goes along perfectly with my theory of happiness in life. If you concentrate on only the good things in your life, trust everyone (or at least give them the benefit of a doubt), and let all of the bad things sift through your strainer then you will see no reason to be unhappy. If you constantly seek out the bad in every situation then you will have a depressing, miserable life. It's as simple as that.
Ok. I'll get off my soap box now. It's time for bed, especially since tomorrow is Preference and I got 3 hours of sleep last night (thank you, Cully).