Sad Wings of Destiny may be the best Judas Priest album. Disagree if you will. I am kind enough to permit you to be wrong.
The track Victim of Changes, arguably the most memorable if not the best on Sad Wings, sings of an aging woman feeling sorry for herself and getting blind hillbilly drunk to chase away the pain of changes beyond her control.
There’s a message there, as in many of Rob Halford’s lyrics. Halford himself faced depression and alcoholism for decades, even on the rocketship to fame fronting one of the top metal bands of all time.
Many such cases of this, sadly. Fame and glory burn bright, but they burn all the same.
What I take away from Victim of Changes is a different lesson.
Wallowing in pity is a choice.
You are only a passive victim of circumstance when you allow yourself to be that.
The choice to be a passive victim involves you powers of will and imagination as sure as the choice to reject that belief and direct your life by your own intentions.
Whatever it is, you made that happen by allowing it.
This idea is no “self help secret”, by the way.
You can be the passive victim of changes and whine about it, or you can assert your will and create in your imagination and watch the circumstances shift to suit you.
It’s always your choice.
Matt Perryman
https://matts.email
P.S. — Enjoy: