Break the Mold.
For God’s sake and your own, break the mold.
Terry’s song by Bruce Springsteen is a song I sent to my friend on his birthday. Why? Becuase he breaks the mold by simply being his unique self.
This song is an invitation. It reminds us to live before we die. It’s an invitation to simply be you. To be your true, authentic, unique, original self. Even with all your quirks, your peculiarities, for that is what makes you, you. Embrace them. Embrace yourself. All of you. Don’t try to be someone else. When we do we lose ourselves.
When we’re not ourselves, it’s boring! Bette Midler said, “Cherish forever what makes you unique, ‘cuz you’re really a yawn if it goes.” It’s having the courage to be our unique selves. Maybe it comes with age. If we’re lucky, it comes sooner.
Some of us lose ourselves becasue we’re self conscious and worried about what others think. We worry about the thoughts and opinions of that imaginary audience out there, who we think evaluates us constantly. (And yet they’re not thinking about us at all becasue they are so busy thinking about themselves!)
As the famous author “Anonymous” said: “When you’re 20 you care what everyone thinks, when you’re 40 you stop caring what everyone thinks, when you’re 60 you realize no one was ever thinking about you in the first place”
Be who you are now. So at your funeral someone might sing this song for you or at least smile remembering you and feeling the joy they knew in knowing you – a complete original and one of a kind creation.
Prayer: God help me to lose or overcome my self consciousness and simply be myself. Free me from fear, from concern, from inhibition. Help me to have the courage shine. And to give myself and others the gift of my own uniqueness and originality.
LYRICS: “Terry’s Song” by Bruce Springsteen
Well they built the Titanic to be one of a kind, but many ships have ruled the seas
They built the Eiffel Tower to stand alone, but they could build another if they please
Taj Mahal, the pyramids of Egypt, are unique I suppose
But when they built you, brother, they broke the mold
Now the world is filled with many wonders under the passing sun
And sometimes something comes along and you know it’s for sure the only one
The Mona Lisa, the David, the Sistine Chapel, Jesus, Mary, and Joe
And when they built you, brother, they broke the mold
When they built you, brother, they turned dust into gold
When they built you, brother, they broke the mold
They say you can’t take it with you, but I think that they’re wrong
‘Cause all I know is I woke up this morning, and something big was gone
Gone into that dark ether where you’re still young and hard and cold
Just like when they built you, brother, they broke the mold
Now your death is upon us and we’ll return your ashes to the earth
And I know you’ll take comfort in knowing you’ve been roundly blessed and cursed
But love is a power greater than death, just like the songs and stories told
And when she built you, brother, she broke the mold
That attitude’s a power stronger than death, alive and burning her stone cold
When they built you, brother
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