Maddenation
Inspiration/Discouragement
From an article by Neil Peart:
However, the effect [of hearing great drummers] on me was to make me determined to learn more and practice more. If I went to a club or a concert and heard somebody play great, I couldn’t wait to go home and play my drums. I once read an interview with Eric Clapton talking about Jimi Hendrix, saying that after hearing him play he wanted to go home and burn his guitar. Wynton Marsalis said something similar about Miles Davis, and I guess that’s the other response to greatness.
Sure it’s a little discouraging to hear somebody blow right over your head, and if it makes you think, ‘I’ll never be able to play like that,’ it’s probably true—but that’s okay. It seems to me such a shining example should inspire you to try harder, and maybe play a better version of yourself. Don’t be discouraged, be inspired, and go home and practice—that’s what I feel.
We all know I’ve gotten a lot of my philosophy on life from Neil Peart, but here’s another example. And I guess it’s not so much, in this case, that his ideas are influencing me, but that he’s in agreement with something I already feel. Of course, I don’t always live up to that ideal. Sometimes I read and feel discouraged (like nowadays when I read Ian Frazier or W. G. Sebald, whose books ought to be something like what I am aiming at with my book, but which seem far beyond my ability to write). But mostly I try to remind myself of something like what Neil Peart says: that you can only worry about being better than your old self. And although I’m never making leaps and bounds, I do feel like my general direction is toward getting better. In writing, in parenting, in, wait, I guess volleyball won’t count. But I am better than I would be had I just atrophied. This team I’m playing on is really good. We do a lot of physical training, and we have a complete second team that’s as good as the first. In fact, we don’t even have a “starting” team. We just have 12 good players. Now I’m off subject. Sorry. Believe Neil. That’s what I wanted to say. Believe Neil.
Patrick • Quotes • 05/13/03 • 5 comments
Comments
Dad • 05/13/03 • 10:25 PM:This may not be very inspiring, but what I’m thinking now (and have thought many times before) is that the world needs discouragement as much as it needs inspiration. Kind of. I’ve never quite said it like that before, but hey, that’s why you write it down. What I’m talking about is the process by which we arrive at our “true self.” How do we define what we’re good at, without also finding out what we stink at? The world needs a lot of people doing “normal” things like growing food, and building/maintaining things, and policing things, and bureaucratting things, etc. If everyone tried to be a drummer, who’d be marching to a different beat? So its a good thing that people are getting discouraged from being movie stars and rock stars and heads of state. We need people to sweep the floors.
Patrick • 05/14/03 • 1:22 AM:You’re quoting Neil Peart himself there: “We need someone to talk to and someone to sweep the floors.” But I’m sure you remembered that from our conversation after we dropped Dave off at the airport. And here’s a op/ed piece from Joseph Epstein trying to discourage people from writing books (you may need to register with NY Times to see the article). I didn’t take his advice, by the way.
Dad • 05/14/03 • 2:52 PM:Maybe Joseph Epstein is right, but he has obviously taken a “snobby” approach to the subject, and clearly wants to minimize competition for his lates book on snobbery. Anyway, I always thought I had a book in me too.
Patrick • 05/14/03 • 4:51 PM:Yeah. He’s an angry old man, it sometimes seems, but if you read enough of him, you begin to think that he has earned that attitude. In any case, when I read that article, it hurt initially, but then I got to thinking: there are too many crappy books out there! Not mine, but others. Everybody knows this, but not everybody’s in agreement on which ones. One of the oldest traditions within the personal essay is the naked honesty Epstein shows. He’s not worried about offending readers, he just calls it like he sees it. Even if you disagree with what he says, you have to admire his willingness to say it outright (without a shield of political correctness). So go ahead and write the book you have in you. Nobody’s going to listen to Epstein anyway. Let the publishers and the world (at least your family) be the judges.
Dan • 05/14/03 • 9:39 PM:i’ll start from the top:
i just heard on the radio an interview with the singer/guitarist from the band “less than jake” (i think) and he says he doesn’t ever record his dabbles on the guitar. “if i don’t remember it, it’s not worth remembering.” i was like, WUTT?! i write down everything. i have always been told to write down everything. i have even recorded stuff on guitar so as not to forget it. can someone actually think how that guy thinks? and does it work? if he did record stuff outside of the studio, would they be better? what do YOU think? would he burn his guitar or go home and play more after hearing hendrix?
because i’m graduating, i’ve devoted a lot of thought to jobs and inspiration and “destiny” and a whole bunch more bunk. “do what is in your heart.” come on, now. of course i, with a degree from notre dame, can say that. but what about most people in the world. what about arsenio, who can barely read? what’s he going to do when he grows up? certainly the advice i give him is not “follow your heart”. i’m really struggling with this, being able to do most things with my life (when you consider everything, you know). like, how many REALLY poor people commit their lives to service? how many are allowed? maybe by getting a job at the car wash down the street (like rick, arsenio’s stepdad) is service. after all, he’s helping his family, a poor one.
i can’t say exactly how i feel about service, but i’m beginning to get a bit fed up with all the programs bugging me about it. maybe not so much the programs, but all the people “doing service” after graduation. it seems like most just want to check it off their “to do” list or something. if i’m going to do service, i don’t necessarily want to be involved in a program. i talked to dave the other day about me getting a teaching job in chicago so i can live with him. he emailed some lady to get me some info. she sends out an email to 400 people saying that i’m looking for a service program in chicago, etc. within an hour i have 6 emails, within 2 days i have 20. i appreciated what dave did for me, and maybe i wasn’t totally clear, but a service program was not what i was looking for. i just wanted to see if there is a school that needed a teacher. that’s it. i was interested in being a teacher. dave did get back to me with some info on schools, which i appreciated much more than the service programs that for some reason seem to want to feed on my flesh or something. maybe they want me to live in their community and i could add to their group discussions about faith and other stuff, and maybe they have americorps money to shell out, but right now i do not want to do that. i want to live with my brother. i believe that i could be fulfilled in the right service program and be enriched by living among others and i probably could deepen my faith by doing so, but i also know that i have done that before, lived away from home for 4 years, have had uncountable conversations with friends about that sort of stuff, but right now is not the time. i want to live with my brother.
i have sort of made a decision for the near future. i want to get a graphic design job in chicago. here’s why: because dad told me that the experience of a real job in the real world, learning to problem-solve outside of classwork can’t hurt if i decide to teach in the future.
he said that teaching now mostly likely won’t help me get a job in design.
i also feel that i need to make strides in my maturity—my responsibility mostly, before i feel comfortable teaching. i think that by becoming a designer first (and maybe only and forever) i will increase my skill as a designer and critical thinker, be forced to become more responsible without jeopardizing children’s lives (haha), and create more opportunities/ability to do other jobs. so that’s where i am at now. crap. i’m going to post this.
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