We are still fighting the Death star in our hearts with bloodied hands and wild eyes.

"No reason to get excited," the thief, he kindly spoke,
"There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke.
But you and I, we've been through that, and this is not our fate,
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late."

                             An archive photo, one of my favourites.

Tonight I read two things on two of my favourite blogs that I think fitted with todays run.

The first was on Catra Corbetts blog, Dirt Diva and she said, 
"By the time we hit 50, we have learned our hardest lessons. We have found out that only a few things are really important. We have learned to take life seriously, but never ourselves." 
The second was Billy Barnetts blog, where he talked about..."The past several months have been filled with highs and lows all pulling toward the greater good of balance." 
(my underlining) 
Both these runners appeal to me because they are both mavericks and they both like to think deeply about life. They've both learnt a lot about themselves and neither fit the mould. 
This morning I was sliding around in the murk and the mud with Jerry and Liz. It was the first time we had run with Liz for over a year as she has been recovering from a car accident that left her whip lashed and with a bad back. And while she is many years younger than Jerry and I she is old enough to have experienced life in all it's colour and all it's grunge. As we ran, talked and reflected I realised that the three of us have all had our shit to deal with recently. It's been hard and we have had the edges knocked off us. We are not out of the woods yet either. Wolves, zombies and madmen abound. Despite this we are somehow still standing, still running, still mad and still smiling. We are still fighting the Death star in our hearts with bloodied hands and wild eyes. Part of this fight comes from maturity, part from bloody mindedness, part from laughing in the face of adversity and part from carrying each other across the divide. 
I've been listening to Bob Dylan's dark and hopeful masterpiece All Along the Watchtower over and over again recently. I'm struck by the friendship between the joker and the thief and their conversation. The Joker is looking for a way out, confused by what's going on in his life. The cogent part for me is their friendship, keep cool says the thief, don't panic. There are many idiots around but we are not amongst them. We've been there, done that, made mistakes and survived. We can and must speak honestly to each other because of the brevity of life. There is a sense of threat and doom in the song, the wildcat growling in the distance and the howling wind but my feeling is that while the emotional and physical storms are raging within and around the two friends will somehow, because of experience be ok. 
I think Jerry struck a chord with me a few weeks back. Waving his finger in enigmatic and typical Jerry style he said that it was time to stop looking back, leave the past behind and look ahead. I think it is important to acknowledge the hardship and the pain and it is vital to recognise that we will pass through the shadow of the valley of death and that by doing so we will be stronger, wiser and able to help those coming behind us. 
Does this make sense? 

Dave Matthews Band

All Along the Watchtower.