Inspiration from an unexpected source

[T-Bone]

Have you ever been around someone for practically your whole life and was so comfortable with them and yet you’ve never interacted with that person. And I never expected to be profoundly moved by such a person and from beyond the grave at that!

I was sitting on a bench in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I was taking a mini-break from our 5 hour self-guided tour. My wife continued to stroll about enthralled by the exhibits of personal instruments, iconic clothes, handwritten lyrics on a piece of paper, etc. …I’m seated about 3 feet from John Lennon’s mellotron

 

A scrolling slide show of quotes from each of the Beatles is on a monitor in front of me. This one by John Lennon pops up:

My role in society, or any artist’s or poet’s role, is to try and express what we feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all.                     John Lennon

 

It was a different picture than the one I have here – I used this one here cuz it’s the only one I found online    – so this is just a visual aid to simulate the experience.

 

Now mind you this was a scrolling slide show. I’ve never heard that quote before. It was such a fleeting revelatory moment for me. It wasn’t like “I’ve got a special purpose!"    …It was just a realization that communicating my feelings is what it’s all about…yes…wait…was that it?...I think so…I waited for the slide show to cycle through again to it...yes – that’s it…I fixated on those words – letting them wash over some petrified part of my mind that used to think it was my mission in life to "teach"  everyone about the greatness of PFAL.  

Ah wait – I have an iPhone! I waited for the quote to come around again – and I captured it on my personal electronic device…Henceforth and forever more one of the purposes of my life is to convey my honest feelings through music, art, interacting with family and friends and even Grease Spotting.

[Nathan_Jr]

I would say lo shonta to this, but that would be a squatted dump in the face of the divinity of this post.

Amen!

[GeorgeStGeorge]

If I "read what's written," it says that his role as an artist is to express what we feel, not that that is everyone's sole role in life.  Of course, he certainly wasn't above "preaching":  "Imagine" was certainly a political statement.  Most of the Beatles' stuff was pretty non-ideological, though.

George

[T-Bone]

37 minutes ago, GeorgeStGeorge said:

If I "read what's written," it says that his role as an artist is to express what we feel, not that that is everyone's sole role in life.  Of course, he certainly wasn't above "preaching":  "Imagine" was certainly a political statement.  Most of the Beatles' stuff was pretty non-ideological, though.

George

Yeah George, that’s exactly how I understood the quote…and it inspired me to reassess how I come off to people...especially in regard to my presence on Grease Spot. My usual spiel tends to be didactic and I’m tired of listening to myself trying to sound like I know what I’m talking about   it takes a lot more work to refine thoughts down to what I feel is important to me and the heck with trying to “teach” others. 

Another thing that has gotten me to reexamine how I communicate, is lately I’ve been drafting a post in notes on my iPhone instead of using a computer…maybe inspired in part by Penworks new book    From the Porch to the Page: A Guidebook for the Writing Life  . She talks about the difference in composing, expressing and the flow of it all when writing by hand instead of using a word processor. I’m trying that out in a few of my writing projects – using the old composition notebook - -  don’t be alarmed it’s just a hobby and I wouldn’t dream of inflicting such beeswax on the unsuspecting public. 

Now I don’t do that for Grease Spot drafts – but using my iPhone notes is a similar experience in that I speed up the idea-to-the-page process by not getting bogged down in looking up the perfect word or overexplaining something (like I’m doing now  ). It really just helps me organize my thoughts in a simple way – and seems to streamline what I want to say…thanks for your input – I really appreciate it!