Hard TImes (No One Knows Better Than I)

I had a little trouble getting out of bed this morning. Monday and all that, I guess. By the time I did rise and shine, I didn't have time to ride my bike to Mound Street to practice and then ride to the gym and shower before my meeting, so I ended up taking my road bike straight to the Capitol and doing some yoga there before jumping in the shower.

Before I left the house, the ipod seemed to be intent on giving me a little perspective on my sluggishness -- when this song came on, I thought to myself, I don't know any problems in my life right now on par those that Ray is singing about:

My mother told me
'Fore she passed away
Said son when I'm gone
Don't forget to pray

'Cause there'll be hard times
Lord those hard times
Who knows better than I?

Well I soon found out
Just what she meant
When I had to pawn my clothes
Just to pay the rent

Talkin' 'bout hard times
Lord those hard times
Who knows better than I?

I had a woman
Who was always around
But when I lost my money
She put me down

Talkin' 'bout hard times
Hard times
Yeah, yeah, who knows better than I?

Lord, one of these days
There'll be no more sorrow
When I pass away

And no more hard times
No more hard times
Yeah, yeah, who knows better than I?

I felt the same way at the Alanon meeting I went to last night, where people with sons and daughters who are active alcoholics talked about their trials and tribulations. My own heartache really doesn't compare to that, and I couldn't be more grateful that both of my children are healthy.

Thanks in part to Ray Charles, in part to Alanon, and in part to all the work I've done so far to walk a path of truth, I saw so much beauty as I rode to work today: All the other bikers who were out with me on a chilly November mroning. All the ducks on Lake Mendota. The lights shining in the greenhouses (in the Botany department on campus) the way they do when the sun's not bright enough to match their intensity. So much beauty. It really helps me stay in the present moment and appreciate how relatively un-hard a time in my life this is by comparison to the trials and tribulations of so many others out there...

Amazing Grace

Although things have calmed down significantly in Madison, the theatrics still continue, to some extent, on both sides of the aisle.

This morning during a legislative panel discussion one actor prone to hyperbole asked in exasperation why the current leadership couldn't see "what even Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles" can see!?

As the universe would have it, the person who had stepped up to the microphone and was patiently waiting to ask his question was also blind, and he called out: "Even I can see!"

It was a pretty classic moment, and just about everyone in the room, regardless of their political viewpoint, cracked up laughing. I reckon that it's that common ground, that human angle, that we have to try to stay with to break out of our current morass:

Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,

And grace my fears relieved!

How precious did that grace appear

The hour I first believed.

A little more grace, a lot less finger-pointing. What a sweet sound that would be!