Rocket Man
The leadership you desire can come from you.
It was May 9th of 1972. My wife and I were in our senior year of college. Linda was working as a nurses’ aide, and I worked as a motel desk clerk. We had just enough money to buy Elton John tickets at the Arie Crown Theater in Chicago. Elton was an extraordinary musical talent. His keyboarding mastery and wide-ranging vocal excellence and flamboyant extravagance still resonates with us fifty years later.
After the concert, our experience exiting the underground parking lot stood in stark contrast to John’s free-flowing musical artistry. Thousands of weary concertgoers were jammed into their clogged parking facilities, all fleeing to their suburban living spaces.
Our lane fed into what looked like a major artery out of the garage. Nobody was letting us out. Each driver seemed afraid that if they allowed another car into their lane, they would be overwhelmed by the torrent of traffic escaping this parking ramp.
I asked Linda to get behind the wheel. I went back to the trunk of our car. The people who were lined up behind us knew that we were all hopelessly stuck. They must have wondered why I was retrieving an orange hooded raincoat and a flashlight. As I walked up beside Linda, I said through her car window, “Watch me and when I motion you forward, pull up about fifty yards and let me back into the car.”
