To all the staff at About Time Newspaper and all avid readers,
This is one of my many thoughts on all the moments in life I may have taken for granted – of memories of my younger years. And here’s to us all making new memories, whether in our youth or mature years.
Peace, Love, and Respect
Chasing the wind
Bob Seger sings about the feeling of missed moments, or perhaps not so much missed moments but the come and go of life’s pleasurable and fleeting moments that became memories, passing us by. Captured frames, snippets of our memories distilled. Quickly moving from in-the-moment into capsulated time and then compartmentalised, tabbed and filed into our memory lane bank for later retrieval by reminiscence.
I wonder if Bob had many of life’s luxuries at his leisurely whim to enjoy from his earned fame.
His lyrical words, genuinely croaked and sung to souls lost to the endlessness of dark nights in Texan bars of the ’70s. To me, Bob often sounded just as lost and aimless, yet searching, as his lyrics.
The residue of a life lived in the echo of words, meeting air and waves of sound meeting together somewhere in the knots of surrender and beautifully articulated with grace and curiosity.
How he feathered his words into song with soulful wisdom and humbly offered with a reaching bellowing to his audience, his vocal chords laced with single-matted whiskey and camel allergies.
Loved and lost, there but not, sweet but bittersweet.
Much akin to the famous son of David in the Bible, Paul aka King Solomon, the book of Ecclesiastes. He famously articulated this similar notion of chasing the unattainable by attaining meaningless things, gathering memories that were short-lived and fleeting, experiences often leaving him feeling just as empty as before and still parched for more.
That old chestnut of not living in the moment and then the moment is gone and becomes a memory. Gone. Might call this feeling, regret. King Solomon – also known as Paul, before becoming a devout believer and follower of God, Jesus Christ, writes:
“I said to myself, look, I’ve grown wiser than anyone who ruled over Jerusalem in the past. I have a lot of wisdom and knowledge. Then I used my mind to really understand what it means to be wise and I wanted to know what foolish pleasure is all about. But I found out it’s like chasing the wind.” Pleasure is meaningless.
– Ecclesiastes 1:16–18
I began to reflect on this concept as I often have throughout my life, of chasing the wind. Is it likened to the clutching and grasping of the intangible, the unattainable? The bold and beautiful risks we take to feel “in the moment” with the aromas of colognes and perfumes wafting and infusing the breeze around us. The smells bellowing and bouncing together into particles of air we inhale. I’m not sure.
And yes, I’m a very big fan of Bob Seger’s song “Against the Wind.” Could you tell?
Kind regards, and many thanks for your continuous work every month to deliver yet another great monthly edition of “About Time.”
Kelly
