The chorus to the song “Dear Abby” by John Prine goes:
(A different name for each) You have no complaint.
You are what you are and you ain’t what you ain’t.
So listen up buster and listen up good
Stop wishing for bad luck and knocking on wood.”
Like so many John Prine songs what sounds like a simple almost childish rhyme has layers of context.
Much of what Prine espouses in his lyrics in the Midwestern sensibility of anger, sadness and frustration stems from trying to control what you can’t control or change why can’t be changed.
Trying to become better or more evolved is a valuable endeavor. Focusing so much on what you are NOT is a painfully futile past time.
That song has been going through my head today. I woke up and realized how much my personal sense of image has changed since November. I was the boss. I was running a 10 million dollar a year business. Controlling all aspects. I felt strong and driven. Two months later I feel small and lost. My circumstances changed but I don’t need to change. I am just as much November Mike as I am today. I have been in a syrupy blue funk. Those places I have been interviewing with need me as much as I need them. I am the boss.
mikemeyer949 