By Hans Ebert Visit Hans-Ebert.com
It’s signalling the end of an era. It’s heralding something new about to happen. Some of us are wondering what’s in store next.
Some of us are facing our own mortality. And though trying to live life to the full in the allocated time given and move forward, there’s the nagging feeling that the race has been run and it’s time to coast. And so you wait for things to happen. The answer is on Netflix because it’s hipper than Facebook. Really?
To paraphrase Brother Bob, it’s been a terrible year for living as so many have been busy dying. Musicians way too young to go. Friends who had come to the end of their journey in the here and now. Four friends in less than six months of varying ages and from very different backgrounds and with equally different career choices. Great musicians with so much more to give. But they upped and left. Never stop thinking why. But never think their’s was the right move. They were just lost in Juarez and when it was Easter time, too. It was those Tom Thumb Blues.
Waiting in the wings trying to figure out what’s next is another longtime friend in his early Fifties dealing with Parkinson’s Disease. He’s been told he has six years left. Smoking a joint relieves the pain. So you keep him company for medicinal purposes. One does what one can to offer moral support. It can be draining. Too much listening to the problems of others affects one’s own psyche. And when with a fairly new and younger partner who believes in fung shui and how for one’s own “protection”, there’s a need to stay away from negativity, her thinking plays in your head.
Maybe she’s right. Maybe one should shut out those harbingers of bad news. Maybe one should become far more selfish. Completely change one’s lifestyle. But my ex wife said that twenty years ago. An ex girlfriend said that around ten years ago. The current girlfriend prattles on about it. Maybe they’ve all been talking about themselves. Maybe they were and are another emotional crutch. Cut the cord. Quietly disappear. Become more openly insular. Less cellular. Absorb less. Too much crap was let in. It’s multiplied and too many have bought into it. And hashtags. You don’t have to just to belong.
What does that mean, anyway? Change your lifestyle? Trudge up those 12 Steps? Again? And fall at the ninth? Again?
Learn to switch off? But why? Isn’t living with the switch very much ON make living worth it? Still making music? Still writing because writing can often be the best therapy there is because you and only you control it?
It keeps those street smarts learned in your teens still sharp. It’s being able to see how those you thought were on the same wavelength lose it. Maybe they never had it. But for some reason, they’re suddenly looking less and less relevant. Yesterday’s people trying to be what they’re not. Sharing their “experience” with those gullible enough to buy into Wikipedia wisdom. And calling you “Bro”. I’m not your frickin “bro”, “brother” or “dude”. I have a name. You dig? Bro?
This bullshit is everywhere. But if knowing it’s bullshit, it makes things easier. It’s come down to self belief. Self belief. There’s no one else to blame. You’re the master of your destiny.
Suddenly, everything becomes clearer. Inspiration is easier to find because you’re not dependent on anyone else. Just you.
It’s up to only you to motivate yourself over the hill. You have been holding yourself back by relying on others when they were dealing with their own priorities. Or are just clueless. More clutter. Why dribble dabble with them? What’s the return on your time? They were and are the grandchildren of Nowhere Man. They’re going nowhere.
Does this mean the end of teamwork? Very possibly yes. There’s no more brainstorming together. Only shoe shining. The mediocre hanging onto coat tails. Wanting another free ride. Cut the cord. First tell ’em how you feel.
If you’re going to do something, do it yourself. Because there’s no one out there to get there. Every day, they disappoint us. Those who say they can, but haven’t a clue where to start. Those who say they’ll “be there” for you. And when you look around? There’s always only you. So make you work for yourself. Nothing and no one is what and who we thought they were. That’s the starting point to get busy living.
For yourself. Step outside the confines of self-imprisoned and rigid conformity. It leads nowhere. It’s petty shit. Not Tom Petty either. Just petty nonsense from those in the minor league of life and at the bottom of the last.
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