Inspired to Blog

If you waste your time talking to the people who don’t listen  

To the things that you are saying, who do you think’s gonna hear?

And, if you should die explaining how the things that they complain about,

Are things they could be changing, who do you think’s gonna care?

There were other lonely singers in a world turned deaf and blind

Who were crucified for what they tried to show.

And their voices have been scattered by the swirling winds of time. ‘

Cause the truth remains that no one wants to know.

A demon haunts each of us. The task of recognizing the guise and engaging our inner brawler is easier said than done.  In Kris Kristofferson’s classic poem To Beat the Devil, a hungry, defeated songwriter wanders into a Nashville tavern and meets an old stranger who uses the belittling persuasion quoted above to advise the hungry soul to give up and join him as another bitter, failed Nashville casualty.

My interpretation: Your most dreaded enemy is not necessarily the one opposing, ridiculing, oppressing or even ignoring you.  The devil is that voice telling you to quit; that no one cares; that no one will hear what you say; so … why bother?

“If you don’t wanna join him, you got to beat him.  I ain’t saying I beat the devil, but …” this blog allows me to speak my mind, tell a joke, reminisce, observe the absurd, and write on a regular basis.  There will be some politics (mostly, local to Nashville) and probably some religion, but mostly it will be ramblings about topics of the day and whatever moves me. It’s not for you, dear reader.  It is therapeutic and cathartic for me.

And…

You still can hear me singing to the people who don’t listen

To the things that I am saying – praying someone’s gonna hear. 

 And, I guess I’ll die explaining how the things that they complain about 

  Are things they could be changing, hoping someone’s gonna care.

I was born a lonely singer and I’m bound to die the same, 

  But I’ve got to feed the hunger in my soul. 

        And, if I never have a nickel, I won’t ever die ashamed, 

  ‘Cause I don’t believe that no one wants to know.