May the Fourth

Written politely 2021-05-04.

Star Wars had a big impact on me as a child. I remember watching A New Hope on tape over and over. The commercials were cut when my Mom recorded it off of TV. It was one of my favorite movies. Return of the Jedi was the height of my childhood dreams of what the Force could do if you believed hard enough. You could save the whole galaxy. You could beat the scarriest villians with a lazer sword, even the chosen one. You could move things with your mind, all with mental toughness. Yoda taught him the ultimate lesson when Luke said, “I don’t believe it!” and Yoda responds, “That…is why you fail.”

It is the journey that Luke goes on that captured my heart. I long to harness the good in the world like Luke did on his quest. He beat the worst villian in the galaxy with love and a rejection of evil and a belief in himself. His journey was fraught with challenges. Sometimes on our journey it might seem like our current challenge will never end. Sometimes we have a breakdown along the way. It feels like it will never end when we are in the middle of it. But it will.

Here are three different songs by three different artists called Breakdown. Three soundscapes trying to capture the sound and resonance of a breakdown.