2001 Soap Box Archives

Observations On The Big 6 - 5

October 28th I will be turning sixty-five years old. A lot of clichés come to mind like, “where did the time go?”,”youth is wasted on the young” or “time flies when you’re having fun”. And they’d all have a certain amount of validity. It does seem that the time has flown by and it does seem that young people don’t appreciate the value of time as they should. But all in all I approach my sixty fifth birthday with pleasant memories and lots of plans for the future. I’m still writing and performing music and having as much fun at it as I ever have. I may very well have the best band I’ve ever had and I take great pleasure mounting the stage or going into the recording studio with them. I’m surrounded by old friends who have worked with me for over a quarter of a century . My wife is still the queen of my life and I love her more and enjoy being with her more than I ever have in my life. I have a wonderful relationship with my son and daughter-in-law and get to spend a lot of time with them. Heck, my football team even went to the Super Bowl a couple of years. I love my employees, they love me and most importantly I have accepted the salvation of Jesus Christ. So all in all I think I could safely say that Charlie Daniels is not only a happy but a very blessed man. When I reflect on my blessings they are enormous . From time to time I’ll have people ask my what I would change in my life if I could and while I can by no means say that I have no regrets, I must say that I’m afraid if I could reach back and change some part of my life that the domino effect may come into play and things would be different on this end. For instance if my wanderings had not taken me to Tulsa, Oklahoma I wouldn’t have met Hazel and we would not have had Little Charlie. Or if I hadn’t taken a chance and moved to Nashville in 1967 with twenty dollars and the clutch out of our car there’s no telling where that would have led. The passage of time is my main concern. It makes me want to slow down each day, enjoy each minute and make everything count for something. I have no desire to spend time arguing, fussing or spending time with people who are inclined to do so. I have no use for gossip. Those who carry tales should find something better to do with their time. Their efforts never help anybody and causes harm which can last for a lifetime. I don’t believe in holding grudges. I’d just rather forgive somebody and get on with the happy part of life. If I had my way there would never be any more dissension in the world. I view it as a waste of time. When people have disagreements if they’ll sit down and talk things out, if they’ll both be reasonable they can work out almost anything. Life is too precious to be squandered on bad feelings toward other people. There is healing in forgiveness, there is comfort in reconciliation, there is peace in harmony. There are no bad days. Of course, some are better than others but each one is a precious possession, a unit of time, a gift from God to be lived in whatever way we choose. When all is said and done we can not blame the circumstances of our lives on any other person than the one you see in the mirror each morning. From where I stand my advice to all would be that if you’re not happy with your life, do something about it. After all, nobody else can.

Pray for our troops.

What do you think?

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels

 

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