29 Sep Cactus Hugging as Storytelling: “The Valley” by Charley Crocket

One of the way I plan to develop these Hug Your Cactus resources, is to show how different songs, movies, art, and other methods of storytelling relate to the cactus hugging journey. This journey is not lived out in isolation for it is both personal and communal, both active and passive, and both lived out and shared.  In my research in developing the Hug Your Cactus metaphor I found that the power of storytelling can not be overemphasized. As one learns to hug their cactus, embracing the ugliness of their own soul, they need to hear the stories of others on the same journey and learn to tell their own story with honesty. This is the major contribution of the “12 Steps” to spirituality and understanding brokenness. As Ernest Kurtz and Katherine Ketchum observed, “the ‘language of recovery’ works not because those telling their stories describe experiences of Release, Gratitude, and so on, but because in the very telling of their stories, they actually experience those realities.”[1]

If you are not familiar yet with work of singer/songwriter Charley Crocket I highly recommend you do. He is a modern expression of the great Country and America Music storytellers. His newest album, Live From the Ryman was released today and it contains 23 of his songs, over an hour and 15 minutes that express the depth and variety of genres that have influenced his work. As for storytelling as recovery and learning to Hug Your Cactus, his biographical song “The Valley” stands out. The official video, which is below, begins conveniently with a cactus in the background. I am also including the lyrics for you to read and reflect on.

I’m from San Benito, Texas
Down a dirty dusty road
There was sugarcane and cotton
How I used to watch it grow

Then we moved up to Dallas
I remember I was young
I learned about the dollar
Looked down the barrel of a gun

If you ask me where I’m going
I can’t tell ya ’cause I don’t know
But in my mind I see the valley
You should see the way it glows

My daddy didn’t know me
My brother rolled the dice
My mama kept on working
And my sister paid a price

Darkness did surround me
Trouble everywhere I turned
Then one day I started walking
Everything I’ve got, I earned

If you ask me where I’m going
I can’t tell ya ’cause I don’t know
But in my mind I see the valley
You should see the way it glows

Now you know my story
I bet you got one like it too
May your curse become a blessing
There ain’t nothing else to do

I love the way he keeps coming to the image of the valley, specifically the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, and how that place has provided a sense of grounding in the chaos of his life. He is honest in saying that he doesn’t know where he is going, but seems OK with that as he is telling his story. As we lean to embrace the ugliness of our souls we to need to be OK with not knowing where the journey is going. We also need our own “valley” the places and people that provide that sense of grounding in our own chaos. The last verse to me is the most powerful. Here he reminds us that we each have our own story to tell and telling that story is part of our path to healing just as it has been for him. He also offers a benediction, “may your curse become a blessing, there ain’t nothing else to do.” This phrase does a wonderful job of capturing the paradox of hugging your cactus as learning to integrate the dark and the light, the shadow/false self and the true self or essence. So, as you learn to embrace the ugly, may your curse become a blessing, and keep telling your story.

Here is a link to a You Tube video I recently posted with some exiting new updates for these Hug Your Cactus resources. Thank you all for your support, more info on how you can do that is on the support page of this site.

[1] Ernest Kurtz and Katherine Ketchum, The Spirituality of Imperfection: Storytelling and the Search for Meaning (New York: Bantam Books, 1992), 160.