Woke up this morning my house was cold
Checked out the furnace she wasn’t burnin’
Went out and hoped in my old Ford
Hit the engine but she ain’t turnin’

I was listening to this Bruce Springsteen song the other day, and I felt myself blinking back tears.  Certain songs have a way of doing that to us, don’t they.  It could be the musical instruments or the choice in words or a combination of the two that call on our emotions.  They bring on a kind of remembrance that is hard to define.  All I can know is that they can evoke feelings that have been hiding out somewhere in the brain cells just waiting to be called upon.  Feelings that remind us that we are never that far away from our history.

The song set me to thinking that I have more in common with the lyrics than I’d like to admit.   There were times in my life where I struggled to make ends meet, and it wasn’t easy to work my way out of this. My kids understand this because they lived through it too.   I think that life struggles are true for most of us, though the battles come in many different guises. We may have worked to overcome them, but they remain there in our history.  They helped form our character and parts of our personality . . . whether for the good or not.

What I’ve come to reflect on over the past few days, is that I am glad that I can identify with a Springsteen song.  Struggles make us more compassionate and humble humans. I would rather feel a kinship with the working man who honestly strove to get ahead than the one who makes his mark through deception.  I love the mechanic and farmer, the teacher and nurse, the barber and carpenter.  I admire hands that use the paintbrush to create art that encourages and inspires rather than for brush strokes of gold plate on a false god.

To be human is to have your ups and downs.  Your good days and bad.  Some years are better than others.  Some lives are too. 

We’re the same sad story that’s a fact
One step up and two steps back

One thing to remember folks, it doesn’t always have to be like this.  One step …