I can’t overstate how influential Neil Peart has been on my life. He and his two cronies were with me for hours and hours of D&D, thousands of bus rides and car trips, hundreds of notebook doodles, and many deep discussions of life, politics, philosophy, religion, and what it means to be a free and independent human being.
He lived an amazing yet often tragic life. Watching how he dealt with some of these things helped me deal with my own tragedies, even if not in the same way. He was a reluctant, even unwilling celebrity, but if you happened to meet him on a backroad, you could be assured of a great conversation as long as you wanted to talk motorcycles. Never happened to me, but I’ve read some fascinating accounts.
All of us have someone like Neil in our lives. Someone we’ve never met, someone who never knew of our existence, but who reached out and changed our lives for the better. The beauty is, most of us are also that person for someone else, even if only in a small way. That’s the beauty of a life well-lived.
So whatever it is you do, keep doing it and do it as well as you can. It makes a difference.