Music Monday: Hard Sun

"There's a big,
a big hard sun,
beating on the big people,
in the big hard world."~Eddie Vedder

Shoveling in my drive way yesterday morning, afternoon, and evening, it was not too difficult to sense the allure of the quiet, wind blown expanse that Chris McCandless sought, that as documented (sort of) in , John Kraukauer's Into the Wild. There is a definite solace to be found in the repetitive physical labor of shoveling snow, of working quietly and independently with one's own thoughts.

On my street live doctors, mail carriers, teachers and homemakers, most of whom have their driveways plowed in the wake of the whirring, grinding mechanical hum of Bobcats and trucks. Barring physical ailment, this act seems to me cheating. Though many begin complaining at the first late-Fall snowflake about the terrors of future snowfall, I would suggest rather that they embrace the reality of it all and use the moments as they present themselves.

The song posted above, "Hard Sun" by Eddie Vedder, is from last year's Into the Wild movie soundtrack. Combined with the images and instrumentation the song seems to suggest the spirit of hard, true, and honest "work"--defined as "discipline" rather than "career"... as well as the satisfaction that can come with having accomplished something without benefit of unnecessary assistance... be it shoveling or living.

Embrace your invincible summer!