Without Surrender is a place on the web for music I write and things I write about music.

That’s cool, but who are you?

I’m thrilled that you asked. My name is John, and I have been playing the guitar and making music for years. I’ve finally worked up the courage to start sharing it.

What’s with the name?

I got Without Surrender from the poem Desiderata by Max Ehrmann. The first stanza goes like this:

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

The whole poem is great, but “as far as possible without surrender” really stuck with me. We shouldn’t have to give up what’s ours, yet I think that’s exactly what most of us do. I’ve wanted to write and release my own music since I got my first guitar on my 16th birthday. That was a longer ago than I care to admit, and I’ve run out of excuses for not doing it. Minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day we move towards the end of our time on Earth. Well, I’d prefer not to surrender any more of this time to the non-essential than I have to.

So this is my act of resistance against the inevitable. You never know if you don’t try, right?