you’re only as good as your last show

Day 7: 365 Days of Gratitude 2021

Packed dance floor.
The register is ringing.
The crowd is pumped.
Everyone is having a great time.

You play longer, the tips pile up, and you feel like a rock star.
It’s Friday night.

Same club.
Snow on the ground.
A quiet room.
People stayed home.

The bartender frowns.
The owner throws you a disgruntled glance.
The tip jar is empty.

It’s Saturday night.

You call the club owner later, looking for more dates.

“You know,” he says, “I don’t mind having music, but it’s not lucrative for me to pay a band. You have to draw more people. Saturday sucked.”

You bite your tongue.

You remember the overcrowded club on Friday night.
He remembers the quiet—maybe even normal—Saturday.

And that’s when it hits you:

You are only as good as your last show.

I use this analogy because it’s one I know well, as a gigging musician.
Unfortunate as it is, this mindset exists far beyond music—it appears in many, if not most, roles in life.

Sometimes we fail when things are fully within our control.
Other times, circumstances outside our control cause us to fall short of expectations.

And often, the people who expect results from us fail to provide the foundation, resources, or leadership necessary to support success—sometimes even using the wrong vehicle to reach their own goals.

That said, there are positions that demand excellence at all times.
Positions that people depend on.
Roles where the stakes are too high for excuses.

In these roles, “only as good as your last show” is unacceptable.

These are the roles that matter.
The roles we take seriously.

The President of the United States of America holds the most important role of all.

All eyes are on you—whether you are favored or disliked.
It does not matter.

You applied for this position to protect and serve the masses.
You are allowed the occasional hiccup.
The press may chew you up and spit you out.

But you are held to a higher standard.

You were elected to be the American hero—the one we must follow, even reluctantly at times.
We trusted you to have our best interests at heart.

I was a faithful supporter.
I believed in you.

Yesterday, you disappointed me.

I will not be embarrassed for supporting you in the past.
Up until yesterday, I supported the good you accomplished, the spirit you brought back to our country, the economy, the protection of religious freedom, and many other achievements—as I saw them.

Today, however, I am embarrassed for you.

There is no justification for what occurred.
I will never be convinced otherwise.

It does not matter who else was involved—whether extremists, factions, or groups represented by initials.
Ultimately, it comes back to you.

You encouraged a protest.
You riled the masses.
You opened the door—literally—to chaos.

You incited a riot.
You breached peace.
You acted irresponsibly.

You put peaceful supporters in danger.
You exposed them to extremists.
You stripped our Capitol of its dignity.
You placed yourself before our Republic.

No matter how you were treated over four years, you had more than 75 million people who fought for you, respected you, and believed in you.

You applied for this job.

Important positions come with cost—scrutiny, insult, pressure.

But in four years, no one forced you to shelter in place or fear for your life.
Yesterday, your actions did that to others.

I do not support it.
I can no longer support you.

Today, you are an average man.
Your power—your kryptonite—is gone.

What remains is sincere regret and a heartfelt apology.

I do not know what the next four years will bring.

I will still use the words his, her, mom, dad, girl, boy, amen, God.
I will practice my religion and honor my spirituality.
I will believe in goodness—and if we encounter the opposite, I trust we will unite to remove it.

There are millions of true patriots in this country.

I will rely on them, out of respect for our Republic.

These are my sentiments.
I choose peace.

Let’s give unity a chance and see what happens.

Thanks for stopping by.

God Bless America.
God Help Us All.