“Every day is new again
Every day is yours to win
And that’s how heroes are made.”
– REM, “Every Day Is Yours To Win”
I’m deep into the new REM album and I was touched by the lyrics for “Every Day Is Yours To Win.” I have come to believe that idea, even if I do not win every day, and I doubt that anyone does, unless you value the effort. There is much of life that is not a choice, and much of life that is. I embrace the notion of taking life one day at a time, and I have long seen each day – life itself – as a choice. When I have my wits about me, I remind myself that every day is a choice, and I do choose to win.
And at the end of the day, I ask myself if I won that day. By which I mean did I live my life, do my work, love my wife, think of my daughter and my friends. I know right away when I think about it if I won the day, or if I lost.
I believe this is how many heroes are made. We often think of heroes as wading heroically into battle and making great sacrifice, and that is one way to think of the hero. Another is to think of the countless people living out their lives every day as best they can, and struggling each day to win. You don’t have to be charging into a machine gun to be a hero. I see heroes around me all the time.
I’m excited about this week. I take my first video class on Thursday from one of Dave Bigler’s “Master Videographers.” I seek to be a master videographer one day, but not yet. Speaking of videos, I’ll put one up tomorrow of my reading the reviews for “Meet The Dogs of Bedlam Farm” to my dogs. I think it’s a riot. They do seem to be taking the reviews in. And the reviews are nice. I am fortunate.
I had planned to post the reading-to-the-dogs today and on YouTube and the blog, but I felt uncomfortable doing that so close to the earthquake and Tsunami. I’ll see how it feels in the morning.
And speaking of videos some more, the Ipad2 has a video camera in it, and I am considering selling or trading in the stuff I just bought (I’m happy to say that video is not expensive, like photography) and upgrading. A book tour would be wild with a video-recording Ipad, and I could post to the blog from anywhere without hauling another piece of technology around.
Next week, I finish my story-telling workshop at the Clifton Park Library. Some wild and passionate tales.
