This may sound really lame, but I owe my life to Corey Hart. Some recent events caused me to think back to a time when nothing seemed to be going right. I had just finished my sophomore year at Cal Berkeley. I was without housing, sleeping on my sister’s couch in Oakland. A relationship I was in had recently ended, not by my choice. My classes seemed irrelevant. Yes, I know, “boo hoo, poor little college kid.” But I was filled with an overwhelming sense of having nothing and, worse, the sense that it would always be that way. To this day I have dreams in which I am back in that summer of ’85.<\/p>\n
So there I was, driving into Berkeley to continue looking for housing. I was on a mountainous road, and found myself gazing longingly in the direction of the valley. It seemed an easy solution to just… you know.<\/p>\n
The radio was on, not so much for enjoyment as for company. Suddenly a song from Corey Hart’s new album “Boy in the Box” started playing. The song was “Never Surrender.”<\/p>\n
Just a little more time is all we’re asking for
\nCause just a little more time could open closing doors
\nJust a little uncertainty can bring you down
\nAnd nobody wants to know you now
\nAnd nobody wants to show you how
\nSo if you’re lost and on your own
\nYou can never surrender
\nAnd if your path won’t lead you home
\nYou can never surrender
\nAnd when the night is cold and dark
\nYou can see, you can see light
\nCause no-one can take away your right
\nTo fight and to never surrender<\/p><\/blockquote>\nI know people always say stuff like this, but it seemed like it was being sung for me. I stayed on the road. Soon I found housing, switched majors, and started dating again.<\/p>\n
I remind myself of this when things seem uncertain, when I feel lonely and lost. In time things do get better. But you have to stick around to give it time to get better. I had friends who didn’t stick around.\u00a0But I also have friends who, like me,\u00a0decided to never surrender, and\u00a0we are glad we did.<\/p>\n