“Gravedigger” by the Dave Matthews Band

“Gravedigger” is a song I first encountered on a digital download of the Dave Matthews Band “DMB Europe 2009 Tour” album not long ago.  It’s a powerful song for me.  It’s especially good in this live performance version.  The song was originally on Dave Matthews’ “Some Devil” album.  I listen to “Gravedigger” over and over, enjoying the lyrics, the guitar licks, the brass in the background, the dynamics, everything about it.  It’s rare that I run across a song like this.  I don’t even listen to music on a regular basis – rarely, in fact.  Once in a while, I need a good song to go to that’s both well-written and well-performed.  On my Aftershokz headphones, it sounds absolutely fantastic!

This song reminds me that we have a finite amount of time on this earth with which to do something with.  We could throw it away or we could use it for someone else’s gain or we could enjoy it and do with it as we enjoy doing with it (this last option is what I personally prefer).  Climbing is an activity we need to be comfortable talking about death and serious injury in conjunction with, for sure.  Every time we rope up, we should have an understanding with The Reaper and God both and be at peace with that.  In the last few years, we’ve lost some great climbers to both accident and tragedy.  That could be every one of us, any one of us, on any given day.  I have a living will in order, and also a will so that everything’s in order should anything happen.  I’m not trying to be morbid or forbidding here, but I am being realistic.  What we do – our passion – is a dangerous one.  Even though it’s carried out (hopefully) with calculated risks, something can always go wrong.  Most of the time, everything goes right concerning living through the experience and learning from it.  When something goes sideways in climbing, though, it’s major, and you need to have your affairs in order and your training as up-to-date as possible.  There’s a learning curve, here.  You can’t know everything about climbing in a two-day crash course, just like you can’t predict every single thing that could go wrong, but you can have things in place to make any untoward incident that might occur easier to deal with.  Never stop learning.  When you have an opportunity, ask the more experienced climbers around you to teach you something – anything!  They’re usually more than happy to share their knowledge and that’s knowledge that you need to know!  They also have a great deal of wisdom gained from their experiences that you can tap into.  Once they establish that you’re serious about learning, one might even take you under their wing and teach you!  Write down everything you learn in as much detail as possible so that you don’t forget!  Keep a journal!!!  I can’t emphasize this enough!  Write it down – it does something extra for your memory and you’re more likely to remember it if you write it down (yes, there’s scientific evidence for this).  Be prepared.  Always.  Put off meeting the “Gravedigger” as long as possible!  And climb on!!!