Good Things for You and I
We went with some friends to the Bodeans show at Washington’s a few weeks ago, and the inspiration for today’s blog was set during their classic song “Good Things”. It’s a great tune - and I’d recommend you click the link just to get a fresh earworm this morning.
To set the stage, our small group of almost-50-year-olds had been scouting the venue for parts of the evening, and during the set break, for people we were confident were under 50 years old - we even drafted another 40-something couple to help us in the search. Out of the 300 or so attendees, we only found about 15! - although we did see a few more outside later, so probably 25 or 30 of the 300 were under 50. The average age of those over 50 in the crowd was probably around 65 or 70 and we’re sure we saw some 80-somethings! Which makes sense - the band launched in 1980, which was - gasp! - 44 years ago - and they attracted a broad crowd.
But these 60 and 70 and 80-somethings were different than the “older folks” I remembered from my youth - they were singing and dancing, and very alive, and the economist in me was watching them and thinking - those people are all getting social security checks every month, and most of them are going to keep getting them for another 25 years!!
“Where’s Curt going with this?” you say? - well you’ll have to read on to see…
It isn’t the catchy tune that captured my imagination for this blog, but the lyrics. They speak so much to a time that I remember from my youth, and one that we would be wise as society to capture again - especially if we’re going to cash the social security checks for all those boomers without bankrupting the nation!
From the first verse:
Sunlight fall down on the fields
Sunlight fall down over me
Work all day, be all that I can be, yeah, yeah
For a farmer’s kid, that lead-in is meaningful - sunlight fall down on the fields. I did a lot of my first driving in tractors and combines, tilling the soil, applying fertilizer, planting the seeds - and then you wait. The rains fall, and the sunlight, and the magic of photosynthesis grows the crops that feed the world. It’s work being done, and it takes energy - but it’s God’s work - he spun up the stars and the galaxies, and gave us a long-term heat lamp to harness!
More meaningful still though is that last line - work all day, be all that I can be. That was the charge back in the day, and most of us took it seriously. Being from North Dakota, we didn’t have great advantages or abundance, but if we worked all day, we knew we could achieve important things and maybe even buy a house and raise a family some day.
Later, we come to the chorus:
No, no, no, don't pass me over
No, no, no, don't pass me by
See, I can see good things for you and I
Yeah, good things for you
To me, at least in our modern context (and that of this blog) these lines speak to the generational strife that is simmering today, where the Millennials and Gen Z feel like they’ve been passed over by the American Dream. Saddled with college debt and low-paying jobs and ever-increasing housing costs and grocery bills, there is an angst among many that they don’t have the same opportunities available to them as even I did as a young man in North Dakota.
Give, I can give love and attention
Give, I can give all time away
Only to one heart I can give today
Be, I can be man full of colour
Be, I can be man black or white
Only to one heart I can be tonight, yeah, yeah
This verse speaks to me of personal responsibility, and creativity - I can be loyal and true to another, and also I can adapt to circumstance and be my authentic self - and be bonded to one heart today, tonight, and always. This is the beating heart of a nation - the bonded love of a man and a woman, and the fruit of their union is the children who will pay the taxes that pay all those Social Security checks!
The song closes with the chorus:
No, no, no, don't pass me over
No, no, no, don't pass me by
See, I can see good things for you and I
Yeah, good things for you and I
Yeah, good things for you and I
Yeah, good things for you
Only good things
Only good things
Only good things
For me, this ties it all together. You and I is all of us.
From the smallest family unit or new romance, to a great-grandfather with more than 50 descendents - and who is still going to music shows! If we can see good things for you and I, we can build love and appreciation for one another, and rebind the young and the old, the black and the white, and the left and the right.
We are Americans, and we want good things for one another.
In two years, we will celebrate 250 years since the Declaration of Independence, and if we want to make it another 250 we’ve got some serious work to do. $34 Trillion in debt is not sustainable, nor is 65 year-old retirement age with full benefits, nor is an open border, nor is endless war. Let’s get our house in order and be all that we can be, and look for leaders of character. Sacrifice will be required, and understanding, and a lot of hard work - but our best years can still be ahead of us - together we are strong, and there can be good things for you and I - and I can be one those oldies dancing in my 70’s - cashing partial-benefit Social Security checks!
