"Everybody's Been Shot..."

Anyone who's hung around me for any time will know a couple of phrases that I use to help myself and others get through life. The first is "Shut up, cheer up, nothin's gonna be alright," is which from a song written by a dear friend, Jimmy Ash, and the other is a snippet from a film by way of a wonderful column (full column here) written by the Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan. She writes,

There's a small but telling scene in Ridley Scott's "Black Hawk Down" that contains some dialogue that reverberates, at least for me. In the spirit of Samuel Johnson, who said man needs more often to be reminded than instructed, I offer it to all, including myself, who might benefit from its message.

The movie, as you know, is about the Battle of the Bakara Market in Mogadishu, Somalia, in October 1993. In the scene, the actor Tom Sizemore, playing your basic tough-guy U.S. Army Ranger colonel, is in charge of a small convoy of humvees trying to make its way back to base under heavy gun and rocket fire. The colonel stops the convoy, takes in some wounded, tears a dead driver out of a driver's seat, and barks at a bleeding sergeant who's standing in shock nearby:

Colonel: Get into that truck and drive.
Sergeant: But I'm shot, Colonel.
Colonel: Everybody's shot, get in and drive.

And I say, "preCISEly!" Everyone - EVERYONE - has a painful wound somewhere, and so WHAT?

So folks, here's some music for when you're feeling particularly wounded that may help you "Get up and get down and get outside..it's a lovely sunny day

Reasons Not To Be An Idiot


And then, just one more from this wonderful musical spirit.

And I won't sit down
And I won't shut up
And most of all
I will
not
grow
up

Photosynthesis