Reaching one Outcome…
High School’s end was rapidly approaching, an Outcome we had all been working towards for 12ish years. Our class was graduating in a momentous year – 1976 – the Bicentennial, so additional press coverage by the newspaper and local TV station was invited. It was a big high school, one of 2 in town, and my class was over 730 young men and women, accompanied by their parents, grandparents, siblings, etc. Over 3000 were gathered in the local Junior College auditorium for the event, including my own grandparents from both sides. I was not… I was sitting across the street at a donut shop with a legal pad and a pen….
Many years earlier, our High School found that being the person with the best grades, while a fantastic achievement, did not necessarily mean that the person would be a great speaker for graduation. As such, as the President of the Student Body, someone they were used to seeing introduce congressmen, speakers, etc, it was easy to select me. As with the Presidency itself, I wasn’t looking for it, and had been busy with other activities. And I wasn’t sure what to say to my adopted hometown and classmates, most of whom I didn’t think at the time I had a lot in common with… which meant that WRITING the speech was something happening now… about 20 minutes before I was to execute it.
… leads to executing a pivot…
Cat’s albums had crested in the mid-70s, and after his 4 platinum-selling albums, some of the magic was starting to leak out of his craft. As we reach the same 1976 with Cat, his disdain for the industry turned into more ironic and skeptical lyrics. His instrumentation shifted to synthesizers and heavy production, including trying to record with Ringo Starr and Muscle Shoals musicians. The output was haphazard, and didn’t sound like the Cat that many had followed… and you could sense a reprise of his earlier struggles after Matthew and Son that landed him in the hospital in the first place. Had he run out of things to say?
He was on the West Coast recording and took a break by swimming in the ocean off Malibu. As he was swimming out, he realized he was caught in a rip current, and began to lose his fight against it. Slowly losing his life, and starting to drown, he cried out, he shouted: “Oh, God! If you save me, I will work for you.” Recounting the story later, immediately a wave appeared and carried him back to shore. His brother gave him a copy of the Quran shortly afterward, and his lifelong search for meaning was quenched in his study of its teachings. Years later, he would remind an interviewer that “This was before Islam was a headline,” Yusuf says. “The Iranian Revolution wasn’t even on the horizon. I felt like I was discovering something that was an amazing and immense secret.”
Within a year, he had fully converted to the Islam faith, renounced his recording career, seeing music as not aligned with his faith. He sold his guitars, even all of the rights to his music, and dropped out of sight. For those who don’t know about his early brush with TB, this may seem rash, but seen through another lens, this Outcome was predictable. He had always been slowly deepening his understanding of life, faith, and success – and how those all played together. But to his bandmates, notably Alun Davies, who suddenly was left without his career, it was a brutal shock. One day you are selling out stadiums, and the next you are back to a session musician…
… when Outcomes become clear.
This speech would be the last time I would address my “hometown” before leaving, probably for good. Unlike others who would want to return, nothing was here for me. As I sat there, I remembered back to where much of this had started – a 3-minute long Optimist Club speech in the 9th grade that I won on the topic “I’m Just One” – about how one person can make a difference – if they put the ball in play. Had I lived that out in the 4 years since… and what would I want to capture and recommit to as I stepped into a different journey? I also realized that no one would be listening to much of what I said anyway, so long as I kept it short… about 3 minutes 😉
After my quick delivery (I always talked too fast), there was nice applause, and then 730 of us walked across the stage, received our diplomas, and headed out…and with that, I was gone from East Texas. It taught me many lessons that continue to be refined now 45 years on. What have you leaned on in your own path forward from your early days? And as you continue to deepen your own understanding, have there been hard Decisions that have led to Outcomes that were puzzling to others but made sense to you? Imagine what a graduating High School Senior this year will say… delivered on Zoom or YouTube, and preserved for eternity. Thankfully, the records of my efforts have faded…mostly…
I chose Cat for both Decisions and Outcomes because he is a good example of how the 2 have worked together throughout his life… and led him down a hard path, but one that I believe he would still choose. Tomorrow, come back to see how those consequences play out for him, and also one last fun swan song for me before I headed to college. Cat’s last album before converting, Izitso, included this gem with a coda back to his previous struggles… and a clue to his future and my path… I don’t want to be a Rock Star.
