The King

Elvis would have been 80 years old soon (January 8, 2015).  He died an untimely death on August 16, 1977.  His next concert would have been in Lexington, Kentucky later that month.  Many of my friends had tickets, which they saved.  It was far too expensive for me.  I decided I could get a couple of his 'records' for the price of a ticket.

Elvis was a large cultural influence on all us teens and adults of the 1950's, '60's, and beyond.  They say he has made more money in death than he did in his lifetime.  I appreciate, all these years, that his music, concerts, and movies were 'clean,' in contrast of many entertainers who followed him and even imitated him.

One of Elvis' many hit songs was "There Goes My Only Possession, There Goes My Happiness."  Elvis had many songs devoted to lost love.

There really are people of all ages who cannot recover from being jilted, dumped, left, whatever you want to call it.  Sometimes it takes years; sometimes it never happens.  I know, and I believe it, too, that one's first love is always special. But I also believe that whatever love you receive stays a part of you forever.  And the same with the love you give: it stays with those you love, in some way, forever.

But, we cannot set up anyone, no matter how much we love him or her, as a god, worshipping, making the person to be perfect, expecting more than one human can deliver.  Our happiness should not depend on one person, our happiness is within ourselves!

Yes, we will be sad, even shocked, if the one we love does not love us in return, but we need to believe our grief will not last forever, that we will recover.  And that we will be happy, no matter what.  When we go through the hard times in life, we need to believe that they will not last forever.

I have been, more than once, nastily accused of "seeing the world through rose-colored glasses," in other words, of only seeing the good in all people, even in those who seemingly have no good in them.  I prefer to think of myself as a REALIST, someone who sees what is there.  There is good in every person.  Yet I choose to focus on the good.  I will never be overwhelmed by evil, never!  I know it is there, and I will try to overcome it, as I can.  What else can I do?

I'm also trying to forgive myself, when I have been wrong.  God knows I never tried to hurt anyone on purpose.  Forgiving oneself is harder than forgiving others, and that's not easy either!

So, in whatever circumstances you find yourself in, I wish you the happiness you deserve!

Lord, if we keep our eyes on You, our source and our ultimate destiny, we cannot go wrong!  Oh, back to Elvis:  we all loved him so much, God, we pray he's up there with You, waiting until it's our turn!