It's spring break. Thousands of kids have mashed themselves into a tiny makeshift arena to see one band.....Bush.
But it's raining.
Bush is not going to play in the rain. All the kids will go home disappointed. Except....one man, Gavin Rossdale, the man who is/was BUSH....plays.
In the rain.
Electric guitar and all, he plays, solo.
It is one of the more amazing rock videos I've ever seen. And it made me think.
Why? Why take a risk like that?
Forget the electrocution aspect....think about playing a wet electric guitar with wet fingers and rain in your eyes. What are the chances it doesn't just suck? Not only that, play your signature song, the one everyone recognizes and will KNOW when it's screwed up.
Why put yourself in that position?
The answer is really quite simple.
He didn't want to let the kids down. He felt a responsibility to people he didn't know to perform simply because they were there to see him do so. It wasn't obligation. No one pushes themselves to do things that are harmful or potentially harmful to themselves out of a sense of obligation.
This sense of responsibility stuff is pretty powerful. It pushes people to do more, be more, achieve more than they ever would have thought possible. Doesn't mean they are not scared out of their freakin minds sometimes(most of the time), doesn't mean that they don't have doubts (every damn day), doesn't mean that they don't sometimes (lotsa times) fail.
The difference is, they don't give up. They don't look up into the rain and think, "I'm through for the day."
They can't. Not as long as "the kids" are depending on them.
My Trusted MOGs
Very cool post, both song and story, big ups to that man. The world could do with more of that thinking