What's Your Story?
Caught a Twitter blurb about Springsteen's autobiography and an interview that he did to support it.
"I'm working on the story that my ancestors will tell about me."
He says a whole lot of interesting things.
I suppose that every man considers that once he understands that there are less days left in front of the horse than what's in back of the cart.
What else would you be working on after a certain point.
What's your story?
I thought of that the other day as I was driving by a diner in a small town. The man appeared to be about my age.
In the middle of the day, the disheveled man was smoking a cigarette and drinking from a container that was covered up by a paper bag.
His clothes were worn, his face unshaven. He was looking at traffic passing by.
Since there was a long red light in front of me, I glanced over at him, wondering:
"What's his story?"
What would people say about him after he was gone?
And perhaps there was a reason why he was where he was in the middle of the day during working hours. It's not for me to judge how he spends his days. I was just wondering.
After the Syria bombs were dropped into the empty airfield I thought a little about war and the first thing I considered was what my Dad might say should the political discussion get to him:
"If Syria attacks Turkey from the rear do you think Greece would help?"
For some reason that joke stuck in my head. I included it in a Facebook post and the people who knew my Dad really enjoyed it. Then I started mentioning the memory to my Mom and she said:
"I heard him say that about two thousand times."
But in the context of Bruce's quote I thought about how Dad had written the story of his life through his actions and choices.
That's what we all do.
I know what my kids would say about me.
"He works hard. Yankees fan. Likes pasta. Is a pushover for his beautiful wife and kids. Loves his dogs even more."
And there will be some jokes that they are able to recall when something happens in their lives, down the road, years and years from now.
"We won't ever be wondering what you're thinking," Sam told me one day. "Because you wrote everything down."
But even if you don't write a book, or a song...
...your story is there for the telling.
Maybe even a couple of generations from now.
"I'm working on the story that my ancestors will tell about me."
He says a whole lot of interesting things.
I suppose that every man considers that once he understands that there are less days left in front of the horse than what's in back of the cart.
What else would you be working on after a certain point.
What's your story?
I thought of that the other day as I was driving by a diner in a small town. The man appeared to be about my age.
In the middle of the day, the disheveled man was smoking a cigarette and drinking from a container that was covered up by a paper bag.
His clothes were worn, his face unshaven. He was looking at traffic passing by.
Since there was a long red light in front of me, I glanced over at him, wondering:
"What's his story?"
What would people say about him after he was gone?
And perhaps there was a reason why he was where he was in the middle of the day during working hours. It's not for me to judge how he spends his days. I was just wondering.
After the Syria bombs were dropped into the empty airfield I thought a little about war and the first thing I considered was what my Dad might say should the political discussion get to him:
"If Syria attacks Turkey from the rear do you think Greece would help?"
For some reason that joke stuck in my head. I included it in a Facebook post and the people who knew my Dad really enjoyed it. Then I started mentioning the memory to my Mom and she said:
"I heard him say that about two thousand times."
But in the context of Bruce's quote I thought about how Dad had written the story of his life through his actions and choices.
That's what we all do.
I know what my kids would say about me.
"He works hard. Yankees fan. Likes pasta. Is a pushover for his beautiful wife and kids. Loves his dogs even more."
And there will be some jokes that they are able to recall when something happens in their lives, down the road, years and years from now.
"We won't ever be wondering what you're thinking," Sam told me one day. "Because you wrote everything down."
But even if you don't write a book, or a song...
...your story is there for the telling.
Maybe even a couple of generations from now.
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