At the last Green Day concert my daughter, Clementine, and I attended (the third one this summer, if you must know), we were in the back. True, we had gotten there early enough so that we were in the front of the back, but we were still in the back nonetheless. And so, when Billie Joe called out for the “people in the back” to come forward, it was clear that he was talking to us. There was a moment of hesitation, and then people started jumping over the fences all around us. Clementine looked at me once, and then she was gone, jumping that fence, and then the next one, and then the next, until finally she was out of my sight and beyond my reach.
And I was happy to see her go. I know: she was breaking the rules. The space up front is supposed to be reserved for the people who have paid extra to be there (a uniquely American way of doing things—at the European Green Day shows we attended this summer the area in front of the stage was reserved for the people who cared enough about the music to get there early), but really, when Billie Joe Freakin’ Armstrong calls for a stage rush, what are you supposed to do?
The great comic artist Lynda Barry once put it this way: “Sometimes, a window will open up, and you know that if you don’t jump through that window right now it will close on you forever.” True, she was talking about getting out of her little hick town and going away to college, but the sentiment holds true for just about anything: sometimes there are opportunities that present themselves to you in the blink of an eye, and you have to be able to act on them just as quickly.
For Clementine, the choice was easy: she loves Green Day. For her, the chance that she would be caught and either taken back to the lawn or thrown out of the venue altogether was one she was willing to take to be able to get up next to the stage one more time. The gain was worth the risk, and she was able to determine that in an instant.
I hope she always keeps that ability, because it is one that will serve her well her entire life. Not just when it comes to getting to the front at Green Day shows, of course, but also later on, when it comes time for her to get on the bus, or train, or plane, or even spaceship that will take her away from everything that is familiar and safe and fling her out into some great new city, or country, or even planet. I hope that when that time comes she rushes forward into the unknown with the same combination of enthusiasm and caution she displayed at the Green Day concert, and that she is just as willing and able to make the leap out of one world and into the next. And I also hope that when the time does come to jump through that window she still knows that landing on the other side isn’t always easy, or soft.
Like at this concert. When we caught up with each other after the show she told me that security had managed to corner most of the gate-crashers before they made it up to the stage and forced them all back to the lawn. That was okay with them, though, because that’s when Green Day started to play “Know Your Enemy,” and the gate-crashers were all able to shout out the lines while pointing at the beleaguered guards.
She was still pumped about how it all turned out hours later, for which I am immeasurably glad. Because there’s still a lot of windows in her future.