Today was my 49th birthday. It comes at the end of an interesting month and year for me. Over the last year, I've had the opportunity to reconnect with many relatives and friends. This period of reconnection has intensified in the last month due to my exploration of social networking, specifically Facebook. I have been blessed to find old high school friends, college friends and relatives that I haven't spoken to in decades. It has been a wonderful time in my life as I have caught up with theses long lost pieces of my past.
The past year has also presented its challenges for me as well- professionally, personally and spiritually. At times, the stress and pressure has been much more than I ever thought I could bear. If you were to ask me on any given day how life was treating me, it was better than even money I could find something in my life that was causing me pain to complain about. The cards I've been dealt in the last twelve months have not been the desired ones.
I mention all of this because it's my birthday. Today is a day where I reflect on the last 49 years- the things that I've accomplished and the things that I've dreamed of. For some reason, the process has been much harder for me this year than in the past. I find myself focusing so much on the negatives than the positives. Being one step closer to fifty and no longer a kid by any definition of the word. Closer to having grandchildren than having to find a date for the prom. For the first time in my life, I was facing my biggest fear- growing old.
Earlier this week, I reconnected with a good friend from college. For those of you that didn't know me at that time in my life, I was a musician attending Berklee College of Music in Boston. My entire life revolved around my music. Many people knew me for my performance of music, but my true gift was my ability to write and arrange music. I was a student of the art of painting a picture with sound and I was damn good at it! My "happy place" was alone at the piano with paper available to capture the different moods that traveled through my hands to the keyboard of the piano.
I continued playing through my twenties, more for my own enjoyment than anything else. I put my music away when I got married the first time. In my mind, I now had a family to be responsible for and that task left no room for personal indulgence. I was making the mature decision. Or at least I thought I was.
Earlier, I mentioned reconnecting with an old college friend. In getting caught up, she asked if I was still in the music industry. I told her my story, that I had continued for a few years after I got out of college, but that I wasn't doing much anymore, just some writing. You see, every few years ever since I "put the music away", I go through a period of a few months where I find myself back at the keyboard, creating new pictures and aural images. These periods run their course and then I go back to my corporate and family life. I can't predict these periods and I can't force them to happen- they just do. Typically they come in response to unbearable stress in my life. I believe they help me process and cope with the stress.
Why is this important? Because of that conversation I realized that I never stopped being a musician. I may have denied myself the personal recognition of what I was, but my mind found its opportunities to remind me of what I am (not what I was). My fingers certainly aren't as nimble as they once were, but my mind is still capable of creating beautiful things. I was, am and will always be a musician. And this realization has made me realize that for all of the bad in my life, incredibly good things surround me. By looking at the world through the artistic eyes I used for the first thirty years of my life, I was able to see that growing old does not have to be painful. It can be an uplifting experience as long as you don't place limits on yourself. Be the person you were intended to be, not the person that you think the world wants you to be.So, now to the gift part. Not much remains of the music I wrote all those years ago. However, the influx of PC's into our lives has allowed me to capture portions of the last couple of writing spurts I've experienced. Not since my college days have I openly shared my music with more than a couple of people. My music has been an extremely private thing to me and I’ve been reluctant to share it with anyone. I've decided to change all of that.
The internet is a wonderful tool. It allows me to share my music with anybody reading this blog. Go to http://ilike.com and type my name (Scott Stephenson) into the search box. The results will give you seven different short songs that I’ve written and recorded over the last eight years. They are all very rough recordings- I don’t have access to the session musicians and multi-channel recording studios that were available to me twenty five years ago. These were all recorded in my family room over the years and are not what I would consider to be “professional quality” recordings. They are simply quick snippets of the art form that God blessed me with.
So here it is, my present to you. It is also a symbol of my recognition that maybe age really is a mind thing. Thank you Cheryl, my old college friend, for making me realize this.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Chapter One: Learn Your Role
Well, this could be an interesting adventure. Having spent well over thirty years in the workforce as a registered voter, I used to think that I had seen it all and that nothing could shock or surprise me. I was wrong. Today's society provides us with many examples of all kinds of head-scratching behavior and stances. Many of these will defy logic and others will explain why American society seems to be in such a steep and rapid decline. I promise that nothing I will ever write about will be imaginary or made up- everything will come right out of the news or directly from my own observations on life.
I already understand that many people I interact with on a daily basis are going to take issue with some of the topics and personal viewpoints presented here. Some will probably be so "offended" that they will make it a point to never talk to me again. While this saddens me, I feel that this could be the kick in the pants some of them need to emerge from the coma that is known as being a young American in today's society.
Before I go in depth, I feel that I should explain a little bit about myself. 49 year old conservative father of four teenagers, twice married, Christian believer. I have slowly moved across the country in the last thirty years from Southern New England to my current location just south of Colorado Springs, Colorado. I've held a wide variety of jobs and positions over the last 30 years and have spent the last 18 years of my life working in Corporate America. My current job is as a manager of people for a major technology company. I'm sure that you will be able to derive a good more about my personality and positions as time goes on.
The purpose of this blog is to spark healthy discussion about the topic at hand. After all, mine is not the only important opinion. A good discussion of the merits will bring to light a lot of differences that exist between different groups of people. We'll discuss politics, consumerism, education, employment, personal interaction, personal responsibility and a variety of other topics as they come to mind. And during the course of this grand experiment, a clear picture of the differences between a good American citizen and a typical one should become quite obvious.
So, here we are, in Chapter One: Know Your Role. I think it's a great place to start. What are the defining traits of a good American citizen? I guess I could do a bunch of scholarly research to come up with the list, but that's one of the problems with today's society- we put way too much faith and weight in the opinions of "experts" and have lost the ability to think for ourselves. So I have come up with my own list of basic characteristics that we will probably all agree are worthy to be on the list:
#1- A good American citizen takes the time to truly understand their surroundings and their impact on those surroundings. In the end, it is not all about you. Society should be allowed to grow and prosper without having to factor in your complete lack of consideration for your fellow citizens.
#2- A good American is capable of making sound, rational and well educated decisions on their own. It's not my fault that you bought some product or service that was intended for people much smarter than you. Don't make me pay for your complete lack of a meaningful clue.
#3- A good American takes responsibility for their actions, words and thoughts. Nobody forced you to buy that house that you couldn't afford in the first place. It wasn't the evil bank, dishonest realtor or crooked insurance company. You made the decision- live with it and quit whining.
#4- A good American puts 100% effort into everything they do. 60% effort on the job should be rewarded with 60% pay for said effort. If it were supposed to be easy, you'd be going to vacation every day instead of going to work.
#5- A good American recognizes that 99% of the time, you are not being discriminated against because of the color of your skin, your sexual orientation or your gender. You are being discriminated against because you are an idiot. Stupid is much more of handicap for you than anything else in life.
#6- A good American constantly tries to improve one's self. Going through life stupid (either intellectually or socially) results in nothing more than an increased burden on society. Interestingly enough, it seems that the social stupidity has a much larger negative effect on society. We are not going to sit around waiting for you to realize that your chest and butt have no redeeming value to the vast majority of us.
#7- A good American recognizes that the government does not need to have a place in every aspect of our lives. You're a big boy (or girl) now. Take care of yourself and act like one.
In the coming weeks and months, I will explore each one of these in more depth, with the occasional break to explore some of the current events that are unfolding around us. I hope that you end up enjoying this as much as I do.
The next installment (coming soon)- My generation vs. the "Me" generation- a comparative analysis.
I already understand that many people I interact with on a daily basis are going to take issue with some of the topics and personal viewpoints presented here. Some will probably be so "offended" that they will make it a point to never talk to me again. While this saddens me, I feel that this could be the kick in the pants some of them need to emerge from the coma that is known as being a young American in today's society.
Before I go in depth, I feel that I should explain a little bit about myself. 49 year old conservative father of four teenagers, twice married, Christian believer. I have slowly moved across the country in the last thirty years from Southern New England to my current location just south of Colorado Springs, Colorado. I've held a wide variety of jobs and positions over the last 30 years and have spent the last 18 years of my life working in Corporate America. My current job is as a manager of people for a major technology company. I'm sure that you will be able to derive a good more about my personality and positions as time goes on.
The purpose of this blog is to spark healthy discussion about the topic at hand. After all, mine is not the only important opinion. A good discussion of the merits will bring to light a lot of differences that exist between different groups of people. We'll discuss politics, consumerism, education, employment, personal interaction, personal responsibility and a variety of other topics as they come to mind. And during the course of this grand experiment, a clear picture of the differences between a good American citizen and a typical one should become quite obvious.
So, here we are, in Chapter One: Know Your Role. I think it's a great place to start. What are the defining traits of a good American citizen? I guess I could do a bunch of scholarly research to come up with the list, but that's one of the problems with today's society- we put way too much faith and weight in the opinions of "experts" and have lost the ability to think for ourselves. So I have come up with my own list of basic characteristics that we will probably all agree are worthy to be on the list:
#1- A good American citizen takes the time to truly understand their surroundings and their impact on those surroundings. In the end, it is not all about you. Society should be allowed to grow and prosper without having to factor in your complete lack of consideration for your fellow citizens.
#2- A good American is capable of making sound, rational and well educated decisions on their own. It's not my fault that you bought some product or service that was intended for people much smarter than you. Don't make me pay for your complete lack of a meaningful clue.
#3- A good American takes responsibility for their actions, words and thoughts. Nobody forced you to buy that house that you couldn't afford in the first place. It wasn't the evil bank, dishonest realtor or crooked insurance company. You made the decision- live with it and quit whining.
#4- A good American puts 100% effort into everything they do. 60% effort on the job should be rewarded with 60% pay for said effort. If it were supposed to be easy, you'd be going to vacation every day instead of going to work.
#5- A good American recognizes that 99% of the time, you are not being discriminated against because of the color of your skin, your sexual orientation or your gender. You are being discriminated against because you are an idiot. Stupid is much more of handicap for you than anything else in life.
#6- A good American constantly tries to improve one's self. Going through life stupid (either intellectually or socially) results in nothing more than an increased burden on society. Interestingly enough, it seems that the social stupidity has a much larger negative effect on society. We are not going to sit around waiting for you to realize that your chest and butt have no redeeming value to the vast majority of us.
#7- A good American recognizes that the government does not need to have a place in every aspect of our lives. You're a big boy (or girl) now. Take care of yourself and act like one.
In the coming weeks and months, I will explore each one of these in more depth, with the occasional break to explore some of the current events that are unfolding around us. I hope that you end up enjoying this as much as I do.
The next installment (coming soon)- My generation vs. the "Me" generation- a comparative analysis.
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