Just the Way You Are

Today, as I sat at my computer, I pulled up my music library. As I flipped through my list of CDs I found The Airmen of Note. As I looked I found their album “Just the Way You Are.” My Friend said “stop, that’s where it is!” Meaning; that is where I will find the subject of my next blog!
I pulled that album up and on the first tract there it was! “Just the Way You Are!” Reading down the list of songs on that album I found five more titles for future blogs! Long ago I realized that my inspiration for my blogs can come from unexpected places. This one had been put there many years before waiting for me to find it today!
Do we expect more from some than we do from others? Please forgive me for referring to the prison ministry so often but that is where I learned so much. If I can’t pass that learning on to others, what good is learning?
Many times, after I had walked through that clanking gate and under the razor wire fence, I would find a few new faces in our class. I made it a point to never ask why they were there. I did not want their history to influence my feelings for them that day and all of the tomorrows that we would be with each other. I wanted to be able to look upon them as important equals, not as someone to look down on.
But, can I show the same respect for those I’m much closer to? It is a lot harder, because, I expect more from them! Maybe, too much more!
At the prison, for the few hours that we were with them, we had the inmate’s unspoiled attention. On the outside, aren’t we really looking for the same thing? Aren’t we trying to find someone that has our unspoiled faith? Someone we can talk to, just the way they are!
That, just the way they are, can be a positive or a negative. So many times I’ve heard the excuse given for a person’s actions. The excuse usually sounds like this; it is because of just the way they are! I hear this most from parents as an excuse for their offspring’s actions. Sometimes I find it followed with; I don’t understand it, that’s not how they were taught, but-----
In the late 40’s and 50’s I was involved with the big-band music of those times. Looking back today, I can remember so many of that era’s hit songs here nothing more than basic lessons of life. Usually the title was the head-line for that lesson. There was; You Have to Accentuate the Positive, Eliminate the Negative, the title I used in this blog, Just the Way They Are, and many more including the one I always use as an excuse for me, I Did It My Way!
Much of how we live our lives, how we respect ourselves, others, and our world we live in is found in our music that we choose. As I listens to the music of today and watch and listen to today’s news, sometimes it’s hard for me to accept things “just the way they are!”