bar.jpgI was surfing the radio, looking for some music, driving back to Gainesville from a University of Florida Gator Boosters board meeting in Orlando, when I heard an interesting country song with a great life message.

A guy gets a night-time phone call from “an old friend’s wife,” saying his buddy had fallen off the wagon. The dude hunts him down at his favorite bar and his buddy unloads his tale of woe. Car troubles, washing machine broke, baby cutting teeth, put ma in a home, not many hours at work, bills to pay….

The friend replies*:

This ain’t what you wanna hear
But it’s what I’m gonna say:
Sounds like life to me.

The song goes on:

Sounds like life to me
It ain’t no fantasy
It’s just a common case of everyday reality
Man, I know it’s tough
But you gotta suck it up
To hear you talk you’re caught up in some tragedy
It sounds like life to me.

Times ARE tough right now for many and life is far from as easy as we all expected it to be just a short year or so ago. I wish I had a magic wand to get things back on track but I don’t.

At the same I know for a certainty that better days are ahead, particularly for those who make the best of things. Sometimes you just gotta suck it up and deal with everyday reality. The good Lord helps those who help themselves.

We are strong, both as individuals and as a community of individuals, as a nation. The future we face is in large measure one of our own choosing. Here is to a determined, cheerful acceptance of today and to a far better tomorrow, a bold vision of a bright future made all the more probable by our focused, resolute, well thought-out efforts.

*Written by Wynn Varble, Darryl Worley, and Phil O’Donnell. Sung by Darryl Worley, from his album “Sounds Like Life.”