You've Got a Reason to Live

A Sunday Amen

Jack’s Urban Meeting Place | Boise, Idaho

Don't let go
I feel the music in you
Don't let go
Fly high, high

What's real can't die
You only get what you give
You're gonna get what you give
Don't give up
Just don't be afraid to leave

Health insurance, rip off lying
FDA, big bankers buying
Fake computer crashes dining
Cloning while they're multiplying
Fashion shoots with Beck and Hanson
Courtney Love and Marilyn Manson
You're all fakes
Run to your mansions
Come around, we'll kick your asses

Don't let go
One dance left
Don't give up
Can't forget
Don't let go

- You Get What You Give | New Radicals - 1998

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A "painter derailed by circumstance,” a critic of the music industry, Joni Mitchell quit touring and released her 19th and last album of original songs in 2007.

In the notes of her 2004 compilation Artist's Choice c.d., (which I bought) the Canadian songwriter praised "You Get What You Give" for "rising from the swamp of “McMusic” like a flower of hope."

OH HOW I LOVED THAT. And this song.

In a famous interview by Jan Ghomeshi, broadcast by CBC Radio and CBC-TV on June 10, 2013 she was asked “Do you feel too many artists engage in false humility?” Quickly, she barked, “Yes! It’s disgusting! I’d rather have real arrogance than false humility!”

Her remarks on the state of popular culture in the eighties as all fluff and no substance were strong and they stand today.

Have you ever been somewhere several times and you come home and say to yourself, “what it is?, “what is so special about that place?” “why do I want to go back?”

After about four trips to Boise, Idaho, I finally figured it out.

And it’s not because of a “holiday.” It’s an immeasurable sentiment in the air.

@holly.berry.art | 2023 | Boise, Idaho

Cheers to the young who engage with their elders, to the old who let their hair go gray without hesitation, to the walkers, bike riders, skaters, scooters, to the city with rivers running through it, to the artists free to paint, create, and perform, to the builders of gathering places, preservers of history, to the risk takers and entrepreneurs, shop owners who still have dreams and unique taste (everywhere you go), to the vibes wherever you eat and the original food. Oh the food. To classical music by candlelight concerts, festivals, downtown, uptown and all around mountains and places to discover. Cheers to balance, basic rules of engagement, care for people and clean air.

And although everybody hurts, and people are people, as another cool band, R.E.M., expressed in 1992, there are places and people who live happy and creative without limits or the pain of witnessing limitless chaos and disorder. Peaceful expression is good.

This free spirit says Amen to that. Be fearless to be who God made you to be.

You’ve got a reason to live…

Gas meters | Boise, Idaho

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” - John 10:10

“When the whole world is running towards a cliff, he who is running in the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind.” - C. S. Lewis