"I went on search for something real"

Due to the overwhelming busyness of my life some weeks deciding on a traditio is very difficult. I like to post something that arises from my experience, or is expressive of my experience, over the preceding week. The fact of the matter is, uncharacteristically, I did not listen to much music this week. Just as I was pondering this post and having a little bit of a sinking feeling, a friend came to my rescue (don't worry it's not Joe Cocker singing "With A Little Help From My Friends," though I love that version of the song). I am terribly sad that I wasn't able to post yesterday, which was the liturgical Memorial of the glorious martyrs Sts. Perpetua and Felicity, c'est la vie!

The friend who helped me is one of my most helpful friends, Fred Kaffenberger. The song is "February Seven" by the Avett Brothers. I want include Fred's "take" on this song (the only alteration I made to his original was to embed the link to the story about bassist Bob Crawford's daughter in the text):

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During my commute, I was listening to this song, and I asked myself how it is possible for these guys to have such an awareness and intelligence— what is the origin of this intelligence?

"There's no fortune at the end of the road that has no end. / There's no returning to the spoils / Once you've spoiled the thought of them. / There's no falling back asleep / Once you've wakened from the dream / Now I'm rested and I'm ready, / I'm rested and I'm ready to begin. / I'm ready to begin."

and then the DJ told the story of what happened when Bassist Bob Crawford's daughter started having seizures from brain cancer.

The DJ mentioned that the band could've replaced Crawford, but instead supported him as he took time off to take care of her, and the DJ thought that it was really nice of them not to drop him and move on. Instead, it's evident to me that it's precisely taking the events of life seriously that is critical to their music. That is, the crisis is educating them about life. It's not something extra or nice to embrace reality in all its aspects, but instead it's a critical tool for living…