oldguard Posted November 9, 2007 Share Posted November 9, 2007 (edited) [Edit] Edited November 14, 2007 by oldguard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldguard Posted November 13, 2007 Author Share Posted November 13, 2007 (edited) [Edit] Edited November 14, 2007 by oldguard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldguard Posted November 14, 2007 Author Share Posted November 14, 2007 What I want to say ... to put it as simply as I can ... ... (with a big nod to the tune of Ms. Dolly Parton) ... "May you never take one single breath" ... or step ... "for granted " ... "... Never settle for the path of least resistance ..." When you have the choice to sit it out or march ... ... I hope you march. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldguard Posted November 16, 2007 Author Share Posted November 16, 2007 (edited) [Edit] Every year a drum corps fields, it is a new and different, one of a kind entity. It has a one year life span. Never again will these particular people and forces come together and work together, and sleep together, and eat together. and play together, and perform together, hearts beat together, live and die together in that last 11 minutes, and look up to the top of the stands and take one last breath. Together. Do you want to give up a year? Do you want to give up a single moment? The choice is yours. Edited November 18, 2007 by oldguard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sshcg2001 Posted November 17, 2007 Share Posted November 17, 2007 The following is part of a continuing public response to a private problem. I am sorry for using the public forums for this, but I am very uncomfortable with the process of communicating privately with a young person over the internet. I'm pretty uncomfortable saying any of this over the internet and it will be deleted shortly. Anyway, there may be a few others who might want to read this. If you are not one of them, just click it off. Thanks for your indulgence ... I'm going to tell you another story about my corps folding when I was a kid. A very angry kid. I was one of those street kids, tough, troubled, with nowhere to go and going there fast. Yeah, I was a cliche. I see a great many kids not unlike me, although of a new generation when I visit the cities. I sometimes wish I could haul them all to the nearest drum corps hall. Then I remember yet again how few of these there are left and I try my best to support the ones who still exist. My corps folded for a lot of reasons, mostly because the one guy keeping it going had more important obligations piling up on him, and no one was there who cared enough to try to fill his shoes and keep it going, then there was the funding issue, but another problem was actually the close proximity of rival corps, including a bigger more successful one that is still around today. There are people who marched with me that to this day say they hate that corps. Why, I do not know. I never really bought into the hate thing even at the time. While I maintained a reputation as a tough fighter, it was only to keep the hounds at bay. I had a lot of other things to hate and a few kids marching to their own drummers in their own corps was not one of them. At the time the reasons why my corps ceased to exist did not matter much to me. I only knew I was out in the cold on the street with months of nothing and nowhere to go and a long hot summer ahead of me without direction. There was another corps, which was in start-up mode, a few miles away. Some people sat around and discussed the various merits of checking it out. I was not inclined to do so. I really did not care what the other kids did. This is one of the things about what you are saying that is bugging me. You are saying essentially that you think you are not going to march in your own corps ... when it sounds like you may really want to ... because of what the other kids are going to think or say or do? Take a real long look at this. Are you not letting them make your decision for you? And why? Are they not going to be your friends if you go back to the corps? Are they really friends if they are not going to support your right to make your own decision? ... and because someone may think you are being untrue? Okay, about the loyalty thing. Yeah, loyalty has always been a big thing to me. Most likely because as a kid I learned to seek out and hold on to those few good things and good people for dear life. My corps was good to me and I loved my corps. Where do your loyalties lie? Mostly, you just have to be loyal to what you know inside is right. Then being true to the people and the corps you love is all inclusive. I really can't believe ... do not want to think for moment ... that there are adults who have been such a positive influence in your life who would think you owe them something so important as to give up the right to pursue your own heart and mind. Are they not following their own? And again, you would not be letting them make your decisions for you? When my corps folded, the same guy who reached in and pulled me out of the fog I had been living in and marched me into the sunshine, picked a bunch of us up off the street one night, drove us around awhile to try to talk us through it and eventually we ended up in front of the practice hall of the new corps a few miles up the road. I was not in a receptive mood. I was a difficult kid, what can I say. The other guys wanted to go in. They would not go in without me. I was steamed. I acted like I was going along with the deal and as soon as I knew nobody was paying me any attention, I quietly faded into the night and found my own way home. The guy who took me there took the other kids home after and then spent all night looking for me. Ah ... it was maybe more than a few miles. He looked for several days and did not find me. His daughter, who spent most of our conversations telling me truthfully what a jerk I was, eventually did find me and told me I had just better go see her father. Why these people put up with me I do not know. When I eventually did, he was steamed, but he looked me in the eye and said, "I got nothing more to give, kid. You have to carry on on your own or not. The choice is yours," and he put out his hand. We stared at each other for quite awhile ... during which I realized for the first time that somewhere along the line I had grown taller than he was ... before I took it. To make a long story short, I eventually chose to carry on and that was one of the defining moments of my life. You seem to be a perceptive kid. From what you say, you had a really great year last year personally and were looking forward to another one. You say you really did not know there were any major problems and that the ones that did reach you were handled well and certainly your season on the field was a big success. Yes, this year will be very different. People will come in and out of your life and each has something unique to offer you. Accept each as a gift to be opened and enjoyed. Treasured and remembered. You never will know how long you will have them. How long you will have. Every year a drum corps fields, it is a new and different, one of a kind entity. It has a one year life span. Never again will these particular people and forces come together and work together, and live together, and perform together, hearts beat together, live and die together in that last 11 minutes, and look up to the top of the stands and take one last breath. Together. Do you want to give up a year? Do you want to give up a single moment? The choice is yours. Amen... Do it for yourself. You are the one that got yourself that far, don't stop now..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldguard Posted November 18, 2007 Author Share Posted November 18, 2007 ... You are the one that got yourself that far, don't stop now..... Good point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldguard Posted November 18, 2007 Author Share Posted November 18, 2007 Note: It appears I should let it be known that in my above comments I am responding to a single individual who has at no time identified what particular corps he/she may be talking about. I have no inside information on any corps and, if I did, I would never breach a trust. I am just trying to talk a friend through a problem. Not unlike what someone once did for me. Carry on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldguard Posted November 18, 2007 Author Share Posted November 18, 2007 Thank you for your indulgence. Moderators, please close this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts