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Listen to the Doctor

Listen to the Doctor

Last updated on: August 7, 2022 at 6:37 am by Mark Williams

Listen to the Doctor 2022-08-07T06:37:39-07:00 Mark Williams

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‘Listen to the doctor.’

For those of you who have ridden this trail with me over the years, you know sometimes, I find a song—or instrumental, and spin that thing until the repeat button breaks on my I-Phone. As I write this, I am listening to it for the Nth time. There has been a recent run by me on Doobie Brother songs to make my point, whatever the hell it was, I was writing about. Before there was Woke, computers, GPS’s, and monkey pox.

‘Music is the doctor.’

I have mentioned for all of them, they need to be played loud and with your car windows down at intersections.

You know what to do.

‘Listen to the doctor.’

The world has always been a weird place. Those crazy Mesopotamians in northern Iraq for example. Or the Shogun families in China compared to Sam Walton of Walmart fame, were similar, only back then they used swords instead of stock options. And let us never forget that North Korean guy with the high and tight sideburns.

This world changes as it orbits around a random star in a random galaxy. If we live long enough, we can get tired of that spin. One day seems to bleed into another. Sometimes, we get discouraged we are who we are, where we are, and think our own little section of that world should be different, in a different location, have a different outcome. ‘If only I….’

The Plan

But ‘The Plan’ is always perfect. Given enough spins around that bright thing in the sky, I have realized my life’s course is just that, perfect. I didn’t always think so. But as I got older and, well frankly, more tired, the realization of The Plan, has worn off the sharp edges to my brain pan. I understand. But sometimes, at least for me, I need some encouragement. If only for a moment. I need sometimes to just ‘listen to the Doctor—music is the doctor,’ especially when I’m sitting around that metaphoric campfire on a frozen lonely night and sharpening a stick with a dull knife and sinking belief things are going to go not too well the next morning.

But then….

But then, I listen to the Doctor. After a few repeats, I find my loins swelling—and I mean that in a politically good way. We sit up a little straighter and smile more, hold the door for someone, cut the lawn in the rain, breaking into a trot while pushing the mower through the soaking wet grass like a John Deere tractor, reminding some of us of Sled Day at football practice in the heat of a Phoenix summer. Those were the days with only one drinking fountain for forty players and the coach with the personal drinking issue was yelling from the field ‘what’s taking you girls so damn long?”

After we listen, we find the tasks, simply moments before, being so daunting we felt like the Hunchback of Notre Dame on bell ringing day—not so daunting. As a matter of fact, trapping the number three or cutting the blue wire was almost a fun event to look forward to now for the next time. We wink seductively at people who can see in our eyes we know, something good. We realized we found a way to pay the power and water and buy some groceries this week and we smile even more. The diagnosis doesn’t scare us-nearly as much, at least not while we listen to the Doctor.

We still walk with a limp. The scars are still noticeable when we strip our sleeves and it still takes us three strides to stand fully erect from a sitting position—still completely sore, but we are standing and our steps are forward. We know ‘the Doctor.’

We ‘listened to the Doctor.’

So, like I’ve told you before, listen to the piece below. Buy it and download it so the Brothers know it’s you and put it on repeat for a half a day as you tackle the issues you need to tackle. Music is the doctor today in this perfectly scripted day. You might not see the last chapter, but it’s there and apparently it includes the Doobie Brothers—and you.

Today, music is where we find The Doctor.

He’s waiting.

Enjoy the ride.

www.markjwilliams.com

www.patheos.com/blogs/insideourgooeyminds/about

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About Mark J Williams

Mark Williams spent the first twenty-one years of his career as a Special Agent for the Organized Crime Division of the State Attorney General’s Office. As part of his duties, he investigated organized crime, homicides, and fraud cases submitted by other agencies to that office. He has traveled across the United States as an instructor for law enforcement in various capacities. After he retired, he became a high school English teacher at an inner city school in central Phoenix where he is the fourth generation in his family to live in the valley. Mark has published eight novels, paperback, e-book, and audio and can be found on Amazon or easily through Mark’s website at www.markjwilliams.com. His idea of the perfect ending to any day is curling up in his comfy bed with a good book and reading until his eyes cross. Mark was married for almost thirty-eight years and has been widowed since 2018. He has three children, and ten grandchildren. He currently resides in Phoenix. You can read more about the author here.

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