"Be Your Own Hero"

[ctbadger]

Jeff Haden posted an article on Inc telling the story of the time he met Neil in West Virginia.

 

https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/neil-peart-was-an-exceptional-drummer-but-his-legacy-could-be-summed-up-in-4-words.html?fbclid=IwAR2ZoRgz_VejOmBHJm1h1L0cFY36ZKnszjkvm_ez3K9rT2cSpXuK3K4fm5U

 

The best line, the absolute distillation of Neil's philosophy comes when he offers Jeff some advice:

 

"Never follow anyone," he said. "Be your own hero."

 

Be your own hero.

 

I am so struck by the power in just these four words. They keep coming into my head. A mantra we should all live by.

 

Now that the initial shock has worn off I have become overwhelmed by feeling for how this must have struck Neil. Someone who lived life so fully, so vibrantly - "riding and driving and living so close to the edge" - simultaneously had his mental and physical abilities cut from under him. How crushing that must have been to a man who woke up every morning wondering what was the most awesome thing his could do that day.

 

And it's a cosmically cruel twist of bad luck (I won't say fate) that the lyrics he wrote for "Losing It", the song he played on the last tour, would apply to him a scant year after retirement.

 

Thank you Neil for all you have given me and so many others. You will be missed but not forgotten.

[invisible airwave]

[Laurabw]

Jeff Haden posted an article on Inc telling the story of the time he met Neil in West Virginia.

 

https://www.inc.com/...T2cSpXuK3K4fm5U

 

The best line, the absolute distillation of Neil's philosophy comes when he offers Jeff some advice:

 

"Never follow anyone," he said. "Be your own hero."

 

Be your own hero.

 

I am so struck by the power in just these four words. They keep coming into my head. A mantra we should all live by.

 

Now that the initial shock has worn off I have become overwhelmed by feeling for how this must have struck Neil. Someone who lived life so fully, so vibrantly - "riding and driving and living so close to the edge" - simultaneously had his mental and physical abilities cut from under him. How crushing that must have been to a man who woke up every morning wondering what was the most awesome thing his could do that day.

 

And it's a cosmically cruel twist of bad luck (I won't say fate) that the lyrics he wrote for "Losing It", the song he played on the last tour, would apply to him a scant year after retirement.

 

Thank you Neil for all you have given me and so many others. You will be missed but not forgotten.

 

his story was the best!