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Gnome pouts with tree.
My sister passed over a few magazines last month and one had a neat interview with Bill Withers that set me to thinking.
When asked about regrets, Bill said everybody has regrets but the key to life is not thinking too much about them. Common sense. Obvious. But isn't that what we do? Spend time wondering how much easier or better or happier life would be if only we had done that other thing? Mated with that other person? Purchased that other car or house or condo or apartment or life?
The kids watch the water wander past on the
Blue River Trail in Silverthorne, Colorado.
The Eldest and Gnome launch rocks and pebbles.
When asked how he dealt with the insecurity of beginning a music career- the fear of not being talented enough, or original enough, or strong enough- Bill said he decided to test his gut intuition. The only way to know if he could make music was to begin making music and wait for a judgement. In his words:
"I had ninety days to reenlist or not. And I thought about it. Do I want to try to take on this world? I hadn’t been a civilian since I was a kid. Am I ready to take this chance? And I said yes to overcome the fear of finding out. There was something dormant in me. I knew it was there whether anybody else did or not."
My notes on Bill Withers along the Blue River trail.
The interviewer congratulates Bill for his upcoming induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It's a tremendous honor, especially for a man who removed himself from the music scene for many years in order to be with his family. Bill acknowledges this honor, which he takes as a "compliment", an event he anticipates, but his caveat is thoughtful and inspiring:
"But I’m not a jump-up-and-down kind of guy. If I go to a football game, I sit there and watch it. I’m not waving my arms and carrying on. It doesn’t mean I don’t feel something, you know. I feel it’s healthier to look out at the world through a window rather than through a mirror. With a mirror, all you see is yourself and whatever is behind you."
And then my favorite quote- the litmus test for artists, writers, philosophers, and musicians. The sheer guts of it. The part we prove to ourselves, though the act of proving is entwined with the act of promising in such moments.
"...everything in life boils down to this riddle: Are you what you think you are?"
All I need is a good gauntlet and I am ready to try again. And again.
