There is a line from Jackson Browne’s, The Pretender, that goes:

I’m going to rent myself a house

In the shade of the freeway

I’m going to pack my lunch in the morning

And go to work each day

And when the evening rolls around

I’ll go on home and lay my body down

And when the morning light comes streaming in

I’ll get up and do it again

Amen

Say a prayer for the Pretender

Who started out so young and strong

Only to surrender

What does it mean to surrender, really? Is everyone who gets married, has kids, buys a house, a sellout somehow, and therefore has surrendered? Is it possible to do these things and not surrender? God, I hope so. Can we get lost in the thick of it all, surrender, and then pick up our broadswords once more, and continue the good fight?

Have you surrendered? Have I?