Chuck Berry, RIP

 

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 "The gateway to freedom...was somewhere close to New Orleans where most Africans were sorted through and sold. I had driven through New Orleans on tour and I'd been told my great grandfather had lived way back up in the woods among the evergreens in a log cabin. I revived the era with a song about a coloured boy named Johnny B. Goode. My first thought was to make his life follow as my own had come along, but I thought it would seem biased to white fans to say 'coloured boy' and changed it to 'country boy'."         Chuck Berry

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For my generation Chuck Berry has been a major model in our individual struggles to define personal autonomy. What exactly does, "attitude" mean? What does, "irony" have to do with my family life. What is going on at home anyway. What do I, "have to do?" What is, "My Choice?" What the hell are, "Consequences, anyway?" I think our generation ('50's and '60's) did different things with these questions than previous generations. Chuck Berry was 'way out' there in the vanguard.  Chuck Britt

http://poetsmouth.blogspot.com/2017/03/chuck-berry-rip.html

However our eyes may be dazzeled...

And  however our eyes may be dazzled, or our ears deceived by sound; 

however prejudice may warp our wills, or interest darken our understanding, 

the simple voice of nature and of reason will say, it is right.

Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776

Time and Mortality

"Today, my friends, we each have one day less, every one of us.  

And joy is the only thing that slows the clock."

John D. McDonald, The Scarlet Ruse, a Travis McGee novel.

Choice

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing:

the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude..."

― Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

In any situation we still choose our next action even though it may only be a thought. Even though a threat may lead to our death it does not absolutely determine our next choice or the consequences of that choice. When we experience fear the larger danger is to choose powerlessness. Closely focusing on a bully is a mistake. Listening too closely to fearful people as they make impulsive choices is a mistake.  Owning my choice and my possible outcomes gives me at least a bit of autonomy.
CMB 

Without the alloy of hypocrisy.

“As a nation, we began by declaring that 'all men are created equal.' We now practically read it 'all men are created equal, except negroes.' When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read 'all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.' When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty – to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.”

Abraham Lincoln 

Mr. Rogers quote

"If we grow up fearing mistakes, we may become afraid to try new things. Making mistakes is a natural part of being human and a natural part of the way to learn. It's an important lesson, at any time of life, but certainly the earlier the better. We all make mistakes as we grow, and not only is there nothing wrong with that, there's everything right about it."

Shakespeare quoted from 'Twelth Night'

At last the whirligig of time brings in his revenges.

Shakespeare
Twelfth Night #385