OK, maybe somebody else has noticed this already. But I’m just a casual music listener — yet philosophical enough to put such stuff together.
Cute little singer Taylor Swift has a song called “Tim McGraw.” (My younger daughter’s musical taste is why I know this.)
And Tim McGraw — whom some consider cute and indeed little — has a song called “Kristofferson.”
And Kris Kristofferson has written more good songs than any other three musicians still around. (“For the Good Times,” Me & Bobby Mcgee,” “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” “Jesus was a Capricorn” and “Sunday Mornin’ Coming Down” — just for starts.)
I remember going, as a teen, on a double-date to hear Kris and then-wife Rita Coolidge at Memorial Auditorium in Chattanooga. It is hard to believe he is now a third-generation music hero to younger artists.
But the truth is one generation does influence the next — for good or bad or some mixture of the two.
It is something to be aware of as we grow older. One of life’s most stunning moments is when a younger co-worker, intern or friend introduces you as his or her “mentor” for the first time.
Then suddenly the burden of being a person of influence rests heavier on your shoulders. Makes you want to ask, “Why me, Lord?”
Director of the Jesus Worldview Initiative at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee and former executive editor and publisher at Good Faith Media.