We were at a Bruce Springsteen concert last night; couples in their 70s, 60s, and 50s, were proudly wearing concert t-shirts and a few families had come to introduce the next generation to the man they call “the Boss.”
But sitting next to us was man who clearly came alone. Five foot eight, in his early 60s, dyed brown hair, weight had shifted to his mid-section, he would stand during songs he liked and sing lyrics intensely out loud and to himself.
About half way through the show Springsteen played Because the Night and when he sang the line, “They can’t hurt you now, can’t hurt you now, now….” it was clear for this man sitting next to us singing those words was both personal and liberating.
Then it occurred to me, don’t we all sometimes need a Bruce Springsteen, a mentor, a priest, a rabbi, a therapist, a friend, who releases us from the pain of the past? Someone able to pronounce an absolution, a benediction, framing what occurred in the past as no longer applying to this moment or the future. We are set free, in other words. They can’t hurt us now.
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