“But don’t be fooled by the radio, the TV or the magazines
They’ll show you photographs of how your life should be
But they’re just someone else’s fantasies —
So if you think your life is complete confusion
‘Cause you never win the game
Just remember that it’s a grand illusion
And deep inside we’re all the same”
– Lyric from the title track to Styx’s 1977 album “The Grand Illusion”
37 years ago, everyone — and I do mean everyone — had to own this album. And, the title track, all these years later, is still a great reminder.
So much of what we aspire to, focus on, dream about is simply — not — real.
Confusion is simply an absence of substance. How much important stuff gets crowded to the margins by things that will not matter at the end of today, let alone 37 years from now? If we’re torn between this or that, it’s likely that one or the other is just nothing. Convinced we “never win the game?” Look around at the 10,000,000 or so people who would trade places with us for every one that wouldn’t.
I’m not convinced that deep inside we’re all the same, but for the difference makers among us, there is less illusion, less confusion. Even when we pay the price and get a ticket to the show, we remember that it’s just — a — show.
Kirsten says
Thanks for this post, Steve. And yes, this album was on repeat in our house – my brother’s doing.
Though I strive to make decisions from strength, not fear, and tamp down the Jonesing – the comparing myself with others – old habits do have a persistence that’s hard to break. Your words are a great reminder to stay my course, not that of another’s, or of society’s, determination.