I recently went to a Styx concert and was quite impressed. For those of you who are not familiar with the Styx, they are a rock band which reached huge commercial success from the mid-1970’s to the mid 1980’s. They have had at least a dozen hit songs (if not more) and have continued to produce new music in recent years. Knowing that the group has been around for over 30 years, I expected to see a washed-up, tired looking group of guys who sounded mediocre and put forth a minimal effort of time and energy. I suspected they would play a short amount of time so they could collect their proceeds from the show and move on down the road.

I was wrong. From the beginning of the concert throughout every minute of the band’s two and a half hour show, I was completely impressed. Here was a band who had played in venues which held tens of thousands of people in years gone by, and now the five of them were playing to a crowd of less than two thousand. Did they act put out or imply that the crowd was less than satisfactory to them? No, they put every ounce of energy into their show (or seemed to), and played as though it was the best audience they had ever had. They put their “best foot forward” so that every person in the audience would leave having seen a great live show.

After the show, a thought hit me like a hammer. There is no way that, among the five band members, they all felt great, had tons of energy and wanted to keep smiling all evening. The more likely scenario is that - like all of us - some of them had personal problems on their mind, were tired, or just didn’t feel the best. But each member of that band knew they had a job to do and that every audience member paid to hear their music  - not their personal problems.

This applies directly to our personal life. As we pursue our various occupations and passions throughout the years, we are often tempted to let it all hang out. We are tempted to answer the questions such as: “How are you?” and “I haven’t seen you in years, what’s new with you and your family?” with, “I’m tired - it’s been a really long week!” and “Well, things haven’t been so good since my cousin’s girlfriend’s son had his surgery….” Those comments/complaints are occasionally fine for our very close family and friends because they are the truth. But when we have a job to do - that needs to be done well and on time - we need to refrain from letting it “all hang out.” Like a theatre troupe or band putting on a show (because the show always goes on), we must put a smile on our face when annoyances come our way and move on… with our best foot forward.