RUSH Guitarist Issues Statement After Being Spared Jail In Florida New Year's Fracas

April 22, 2005

RUSH guitarist Alex Lifeson released the following statement Thursday (April 21) to the Naples Daily News after he and his son Justin accepted a plea bargain related to a New Year's Eve 2003 altercation with Collier County sheriff's deputies:

"Today closes a difficult and painful period in the lives of my family, my friends and myself. But the sun is shining and it feels good.

"The past 15 months have been an incredible tangle of emotions and stress. But the last 2 weeks have been spent in the glow of love of a family united together, and the unconditional support of friends old and new.

"Life is not perfect and there are many opportunities for sadness, some greater than others. But it is our ability as humans to rise up out of the darkness and accept our fate with a sense of understanding and dignity so that we may move forward in a more positive light and make the next day better than the last.

"Compromise is the mark of a civilized society. It doesn't always seem fair up close but from a few steps away it becomes clear that as an instrument of understanding, it is absolutely necessary if we are to live in a world of mutual respect and consideration.

"And it is in a spirit of acceptance, reconciliation and forgiveness that I choose to not spend another minute living a minute ago. There is still far too much light and beauty in the road ahead."

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