It was a couple weeks ago when we were making our way back from our mini vacation in Las Vegas that I took the opportunity to listen to some songs on my IPod that I hadn’t enjoyed in a while. Not sure what it was, but I decided to listen to Harry Chapin’s Greatest Hits. If you are not familiar with Chapin’s work, he was a master story teller. It was more than the music, it was more about the words and his words were captivating.
You might be familiar with his hits, “Taxi”, “Cats in the Cradle” or “WOLD”, but the one that really grabbed me as it always does was the song, “Mr. Tanner.” Mr. Tanner owned a dry cleaning shop in Dayton, Ohio (coincidentally my home town.) As he would clean clothes he would sing to himself in a beautiful baritone voice and his customers couldn’t help but hear and appreciate the melodic tone.
Customer after customer would tell him that he should give up the shop and become a professional singer. Although reluctant, “music was his life” and finally gave it a shot. He arranged a concert in New Your City. It took all of his savings, but it would be worth it.
When the evening came, he gave it his best but only noticed his mistakes. Sadly, the critics only heard the flaws also. “Mr. Martin Tanner, Baritone, of Dayton, Ohio made his Town Hall debut last night. He came well prepared, but unfortunately, his presentation was not up to contemporary professional standards. His voice lacks the range of tonal color necessary to make it consistently interesting. Full time consideration of another endeavor might be in order.”
Mr. Tanner returned to Dayton and never let on what had happened in New York. He became just a shell of himself, never singing loud enough for anyone to hear. He had become a defeated, destroyed man. You have to wonder how often each of us face this same type of defeat and how we all handle it. Life is a series of defeats and victories, but too many of us allow the defeats to overwhelm us and not give equal justice to the victories.
Early in life, I would allow a defeat of my favorite sports team to ruin a weekend. I have since gotten past that. In my own life, I have had so many defeats that if I dwelled on those, I would have to hide in a cave all day. I think we all have to face the reality that we are not perfect and will, indeed, make mistakes and have failures but that is not what should define us. It should be what we do with the rest of our lives.
Harry Chapin died nearly 30 years ago when his car was crushed by a tractor-trailer. He had made a decision early in life that he would dedicate himself to more than the simple, easy things. Although music was his livelihood, it was not his passion. He did everything he could while he was alive to wipe out world hunger. It was something he knew he could never do alone, but he made it his driving force. He cared about others to the point that he angered his own band because he would donate as much as 50% of their income to fight hunger. The article below gives you an idea of just what lengths he would go to.
http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news/2011/jul/14/bc-us-remembering-harry-chapin/?news&national-entertainment
Take a look at you own life and evaluate if you are doing enough with it. Don’t give something up because you failed at it once. Find something that invigorates you. Find something that makes you love life. Find something that makes others love life. In the end, get off the couch.
On the medical front, I will begin my next round of chemotherapy next week. It looks like the clinical will not work out, but I will be following the same protocol, with a high level of predicted success. Because it will be delivered through pills instead of IV, this will go a lot easier than my previous experiences. With luck, Revlimid will give me another 2 or 3 years of good health. During that time, you never know what else might become available.
Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers. Keep them coming, they are appreciated.
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