Yesterday I was driving home when a Metallica song came on the radio. “Nothing Else Matters”. This is one of my favorite songs. I love the music. But this time, I really really paid attention to the words.
I started to consider the concept of truths. During my run today on the trails at Veteran’s Acres my mind rounded back again to the words. It was my first run in weeks after a nasty respiratory bug. It felt great being back outside. The landscape was changing. Winter was losing its battle. My head was clearing, and I felt a calm wash through my spirit. Sometimes we need to relax and just wait.
Winter gives way to Spring
We often get sidetracked with the excitement of other peoples’ dramas, and get so caught up in their truths we stop listening to our own.
The assumptions we make when the winter storm calls at 2:00 AM may not be so true once the thunder-snow subsides, and the blinding sleet melts. We cannot see through the melanoid skies to find our bearing. The fury that sustains the thunder can’t hold. Calm and reason will return. I am always drawn to the thunder. It intoxicates me. But, my soul needs the calm after the storm. This run today was my calm. The storms of this winter will be long remembered for how things were different once the air cleared.
Clear Skies
The trails were icy, but my footing was sure. Stretches of slick glazed ice were interspersed with areas of bare earth. The melting ice reveals mud, and uncovers a winter’s worth of hidden truths. A lot of dog shit, too. Everything goes back into the earth.
Mud Connects Under Foot
Mud and Ice
I missed a trail, and found myself lost in the brush. Maybe the harsh season had obliterated any trace of a path. Maybe I just lost my way. I stopped, and coughed up a crapload of phlegm. I felt better expectorating the garbage out of me. Eventually, I found my way back on course. I never really was worried. I always find my way. I did not see any new green popping out the ground, but I have faith green will be showing soon.
Off Trail
This winter will be a memory soon. Surely, there will be other 2 AM storms. I never know when the skies will start roiling. Electricity will fill the air with more drama. My heart will quicken, and my eyes will brighten, but I know I must keep my bearings, and know my truths. They are mine, and no one else’s. The evolution of the seasons is a given, but truth will stay constant. I am open to different viewpoints, but uncompromising in these critical truths.
I have loved who I’ve loved, and will love who I will love
I respect who I respect
I will support who I support
I believe in who I believe in
I will form friendships, relationships, opinions, and draw conclusions based on my own experiences, and not based on others truths, opinions, alliances, or experiences
I will make no apologies for my truths
So close no matter how far
Couldn’t be much more from the heart
Forever trust in who we are
And nothing else matters
Never opened myself this way
Life is ours, we live it our way
All these words I don’t just say
And nothing else matters
Trust I seek and I find in you
Every day for us something new
Open mind for a different view
And nothing else matters
Never cared for what they do
Never cared for what they know
But I know
So close no matter how far
Couldn’t be much more from the heart
Forever trusting who we are
And nothing else matters
Never cared for what they do
Never cared for what they know
But I know
I never opened myself this way
Life is ours, we live it our way
All these words I don’t just say
And nothing else matters
Trust I seek and I find in you
Every day for us something new
Open mind for a different view
And nothing else matters
Never cared for what they say
Never cared for games they play
Never cared for what they do
Never cared for what they know
And I know (yeah!)
So close no matter how far
Couldn’t be much more from the heart
Forever trust in who we are
No nothing else matters
Metallica 1992
