The Zen Of The Smashing Pumpkins And How You Can Change Your Mind

It's funny some of the things that stick with you through life. Little sayings, credos and whatnot.  I still remember, from when I was a really little kid, a poem that accompanied an article about motorcyclist/daredevil Evel Knievel.  It went "Never a horse couldn't be rode, never a rider couldn't be throwed".  Yep, it's poor English, but it's pretty deep.

I learned a pretty good lesson from Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins too.

A journalist once asked Billy Corgan about the Smashing Pumpkins song "Zero", most succinctly about this passage:

Emptiness is loneliness, and loneliness is cleanliness
And cleanliness is godliness, and god is empty just like me*

The journalist/critic asked Corgan if he really "felt that way".  And Corgan said "I did when I wrote it" (Or "I did that day").  It was something to that effect.  With these simple words Corgan was saying that he wasn't locked into anything, that he had the freedom to change his mind, that he could express an opinion and still think differently later.

These days, especially for us blog writers, or even just people on Facebook, critics of what we say want to throw old thoughts and ideas in our face as proof we're full of it.  That's pure nonsense. We're all just people and our thoughts change day to day.  Hating on me because I like Texas Tech one day and another I don't, is like hating on me because I used to like liver and now I don't.  It's STUPID.  Opinions are like underwear, they should be changed on regular basis.  No one is going to "lock me down" as a liberal, or a tattooed rock guy, or a Tech fan, or as a blogger, a dog owner or anything else.  I'm going to be who I am "that day" and you should do the same for yourself.

*I do not own these lyrics and I hope Mr. Corgan doesn't mind me citing them for the purposes of this blog.  Visit the Smashing Pumpkins here

.  http://youtu.be/NhmoG7Jn3QQ