Friday; February 2

In the early morning hours of February 3, 1959 a small plane took off from a Mason City, Iowa airport carrying some pretty valuable cargo.  Onboard the plane were Charles Holley, Richard Valenzuela and J. P. Richardson.  The plane was headed to the Fargo, North Dakota, but it never arrived.  The plane crashed in a field near Clear Lake, Iowa and, according to Don McLean, it signaled the day that music died.  The tragedy that took the lives of the three music entertainers and their pilot has been the subject of history (and a lot legend), but as we look back on the event we can’t help but see that it shaped our perspective.  Who knows what would have happened to the careers of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens or the Big Bopper, but because of their untimely deaths they are forever ingrained in music history.  Maybe they are more popular now than they ever would have been if their careers had merely faded into obscurity.
How do we approach the difficult times in our lives?  Do we allow them to scar us or suck the life out of us or do we use them as building blocks for future success?  Do they drive us into hiding or do they provide us with a chance to stand up and stand out?  We have a tendency to lament struggles and see them as the beginning of the end, but sometimes they are just what we need to set us on our own meteoric rise. 
Please do not misunderstand me.  I am not advocating that we end our lives to gain fame or even seek out hardships just so we can get ahead, my point is that taking on the role of a fighter rather than a victim can bring a positive slant on struggles.  The fact of life is that we are going to have some challenging times – the question for us is what are we going to do with them?
Think about it! 

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