A Life Lesson from Willie Nelson

I  love Willie Nelson’s music. Ever since my days at Mississippi State, my traveling theme song has been On the Road Again. And…last weekend I was traveling.

On the drive home from Sandestin, Rolando and I breakfasted at Waffle House. It was busy as always. Dishes clattered, bacon sizzled, and the cook yelled orders for eggs over easy and buttered grits.

I’m a people watcher (writers do that) and a few things came to me as a sipped my regular coffee with three creams (which is how I prefer coffee).

Waffle House is where everyday folks eat. Truck drivers, rough-looking motorcycle types, young folks who may have been hungover, and physical therapists on their way home from a restful weekend. It’s not the same folks one usually spots at Starbucks—no spiced latte here.

So as America votes this week–finally, it may be time to talk about the really important issue each of us faces. Coffee shops are where the journalists (highly-paid interviewers) always seem to go when they want to talk to real people. Funny…I don’t think I’ve ever seen them do a show at a Waffle House.

If I were to ask the folks in this Waffle House what they think of the world, they may say something like ol’Willie said in his song It’s All Going to Pot. Now you know Willie had a double meaning in the word pot, but that’s not where I’m going here. The gist of this song is summed up in the chorus:

Well, it’s all going to pot
Whether we like it or not
The best I can tell
The world’s gone to hell
And we’re sure gonna miss it a lot

Maybe you agree with these words. I don’t.

I’m not sitting at home stewing over the state of global warming or the oceans rising. I don’t lay awake worrying about how we can save the world.

Why not? Because I don’t place my trust in the government or other humans. I don’t believe we have the power to save the world.  Don’t misread (or read into) this and believe I don’t recycle or want clean water.

We all want many of the same things. Peace, a clean environment, mutual respect, an end to violence, and freedom to be everything we want to be.

It sounds like a pipe dream, nirvana, or heaven on earth. In many ways, it is. However, the closest humans have ever come to providing most of these things to people, was the creation of America and its form of governance.

The founders of this great country did not trust Man, they trusted God. They knew people left to their own devices would always end up in conflict. It’s human nature. I agree with their assessment.

So, go vote. But…when the results are in, they must be accepted. If we can’t hold hands around the Constitution and the rule of law, we’re done.

In the meantime, if you’re looking for a home where no storm clouds rise or a land of an uncloudy day, you’d better get on the road with Jesus.

Heaven is gonna be better than a morning in Destin and you don’t want to miss that, do you?

 

 

 

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Do you have a favorite Willie song? Or are you like my husband, who always asks, “How can you listen to that awful voice?”