Complex Numbers

No Surrender

PROMPT January 28

Let's fill Emily's war-chest of ideas!

What's a topic you've always thought would be a great 30dbc discussion, but has never come up in the prompts? Why do you think it would stimulate discussion?

I guess I've been doing these challenges on and off for over a year, now. I can't say I've "always thought" a particular prompt would make a good discussion -- I save my prompt energy for my weekly contributions to "The Writer's Cramp"  [13+]. I'm content to go with the flow and see where someone else's prompts take me. Also, my memory is crap so there's no guarantee that anything I come up with hasn't already been done, even if it was in a month in which I participated.

So I gave it some thought, and thought some more, and then worked backwards. I figured since I've been doing the musical thematic tie-ins all month, I'd just pick one of my favorite songs and go from there. Any prompt I propose here is going to come from either humor or pathos -- or perhaps both at the same time, as the line between them is sometimes blurry, and sometimes nonexistent. So this one is brought to you by Bruce Springsteen.

We've all heard the pep talk: "Don't give up! Never quit!" Like many pep talks, this can be harmful in the long run. There are times when the best thing you can do is to give up, abandon your dream, change course, retreat... surrender. Have you done this? Or have you actively resisted it? Either way, what was the result? Any regrets?

Why would this stimulate discussion? Well, I think it's likely we've all been there. When you face a challenge, sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose; sometimes you press on, and sometimes you just let it go. It's relatable and, I believe, could help people examine their own habits and motivations, and isn't that what self-reflection is all about?

I could write about this from both sides - fulfilling a goal, and on the other hand abandoning a different one. Neither one made me particularly happy or sad in the long run, so my assertion is that, for me, it doesn't matter -- what matters is having goals in the first place.

If you want specifics, though, you'll have to wait until it becomes an official prompt -- and that's assuming that I'm participating at the time. And that I remember what I was thinking of, besides the music.

Well, we busted out of class
Had to get away from those fools
We learned more from a three-minute record, baby
Than we ever learned in school
Tonight I hear the neighborhood drummer sound
I can feel my heart begin to pound
You say you're tired and you just want to close your eyes
And follow your dreams down

Well, we made a promise we swore we'd always remember
No retreat, baby, no surrender
Like soldiers in the winter's night
With a vow to defend
No retreat, baby, no surrender