Blog 10: Song Response

Does anyone listen to Kenny Rogers anymore? I don't listen to much current music. Somehow, I lost the desire to keep up, preferring talk radio and audio books. But music was very much a part of my childhood and young adult life, and sometimes lyrics will come to mind. Kenny Roger's "The Gambler" has a great chorus that seems pretty important to my adult life:

You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em,
Know when to walk away, know when to run.
You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table,
There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done.

The song is a narrative about a down and out young man encountering an experienced gambler who gives him advice. The chorus is the advice: you need to know when to keep playing and when to quit, and in quitting, you need to know when to get out fast. I do think it's hard for young people to know when it's time to give up. We're taught to "hang in there" and that courage involves seeing something through to the end. I think it's also important to know when no effort on my part will do any good. There have been important times in my life when I've folded and run, and I haven't been disappointed in that choice.

The other part of the advice is not to count your money while you're still playing. I read this as don't judge yourself. Whether you're winning or losing, judging doesn't do any good. Just keep going with the work until it's finished. I've found even after the work is done that judging doesn't matter because I'm on to the next job. It's really the game that's important, life, career, family, not figuring out whether you're winning or losing. Just be happy in the action of life.

I don't really think of Kenny Rogers as providing my life philosophy, but clearly my own experiences connect enough with the idea of this song to make it meaningful for me. :)