The Saddest Day in Rock and Roll History: Gabriel Left Genesis

Don’t Give Up - A Great September Song

Even though I have been at this for oh so long, I still consider myself a junior varsity writer.  I will admit that Grammarly gives me an assist with the right places to put the commas and when it is better to use a semicolon, but the content is mine.  All mines, as it could be heard in Niagara Falls when I was a kid.  And this is important because I have a story to tell.  I am going to tell it, and the audience who reads it is going to be big. The truth is a funky thing sometimes, you know?  We just get to a point in our careers or in our lives where we must both face it…and tell it. 

After some pretty tough times, I adopted a Fight Harder, Demand Better, Lead with Love code.  I say these seven words before I make tough decisions – and this has been really helpful.  Things would be better for me if I’d adopted the code years ago.  The truth is that at 50 years old, I know I have less life to live than I have lived.  I am a realist.  So, the years that come next are going to mean something.  They will count more than those that came before, for me and for those I serve. There is an amazing freedom in adopting a vision like this and living by it.  A note to the beleaguered – in the words of Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush, Don’t Give Up.

Now, today is 9/12, yup, the day after 9/11.  And just as the hearts and minds of America are putting the travesty of the past on the shelf until the next memorial, next year, the collective attention will be turned to other things.  Most stations are leading with the floods in Libya today.  Awful.  A new day, a new tragedy.  It kinda sucks.  These tragedies influence us, they certainly influence me.  When they happen, I look at my son and think about him and a few key people in my life and how fortunate I am to have them.  And I want them to be fortunate to have me.  Take Love In / Give Love Out – a balanced equation, sometimes.

Today is George Jones’ birthday.  He was born in 1931 and’d be 92 today if he were still around.  The Possum, as he was called, is credited with singing the greatest love song in the history of the world, according to me.  The song is, He Stopped Loving Her Today, and if you haven’t heard of it, you have your chance right here, on this page. Whether it was about Tammy or Nancy is irrelevant.  The bottom line is that he stopped loving one of them on April 26, 2013.  Malcolm Gladwell says it was Nancy, for the record. 

I’ve been thinking about this song since I woke up today.  Whether or not you are a fan of country, you can kind of get lost in it. Thinking about love on 9/12 is way better than what we reflect on 9/11. To Mr. Jones: Thank You Possum…and Happy Birthday!