Number One from my list of "The Top Ten Worst Songs EVER Written By One Of The Top Ten BEST Songwriters Ever"? ...
"Imagine" by John Lennon. From an American's standpoint, from the political and economic positions (and let's be honest this was clearly a political song, entirely consistent with the bulwark of this man's "statement" pieces) of Democracy and Capitalism has there ever been a more vacuous and stupid set of lyrics from an incredible songwriter?
I don't think so ... but I'm open to differing opinions. Don't get me wrong ... He was a GENIUS!
This song is only comfort to people that are comfortable. No one waiting on the fruit of a seed or enslaved in shackles or about to be beheaded thinks of this song when searching for hope.
I'm not a reader of souls, but I'm pretty sure, no one finds hope in drivel. I'm pretty sure honest theists and honest atheists agree on that point. This song is "drivel". Which is why it is "Number One from my list of 'The Top Ten Worst Songs EVER Written By One Of The Top Ten BEST Songwriters Ever' ...
Sunday, May 17, 2015
Can One Person Change The World?
A father, hoping to inspire his young son asked, "Can one person change the world?".
His little boy pondered for a moment. He seemed perplexed. His father, an engineer, timed the response ... six seconds ...
"Yes," the little boy responded, "but not by himself, Dad".
The engineer was unprepared. Then realized he finally understood what was meant by "... from the mouths of babes ...".
His little boy pondered for a moment. He seemed perplexed. His father, an engineer, timed the response ... six seconds ...
"Yes," the little boy responded, "but not by himself, Dad".
The engineer was unprepared. Then realized he finally understood what was meant by "... from the mouths of babes ...".
Fer and Uh-Ghin
If you tell me what you are for I can draw reasonable conclusions that expand beyond a single line. If you only tell me what you are against I can only conclude, if I'm honest, that you are against this one thing.
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Counting A Blessing Today ...
Today, I had one of those great experiences for which I just had to turn to God and say "Thank you!" ...
As I was driving home through a neighborhood I happened to notice a child on the sidewalk that was riding a bicycle. She let go of the handlebars and I thought "Wow, I'm getting to witness her first attempt alone in the world riding without her hands" ... it was awesome!
Looking back in the mirror and seeing in her face all that excitement and fear and recognition of new potential in her face (yes, of course, I'm projecting!) ...
How could one witness that and not think back on one's own similar experience ... how fun!
What a blessing!
Thank You, God ...
As I was driving home through a neighborhood I happened to notice a child on the sidewalk that was riding a bicycle. She let go of the handlebars and I thought "Wow, I'm getting to witness her first attempt alone in the world riding without her hands" ... it was awesome!
Looking back in the mirror and seeing in her face all that excitement and fear and recognition of new potential in her face (yes, of course, I'm projecting!) ...
How could one witness that and not think back on one's own similar experience ... how fun!
What a blessing!
Thank You, God ...
Friday, November 14, 2014
She was the most beautiful woman in the world.
No one doubted.
With one picture ... the world took note. She was beautiful. No one questioned it.
She even came to believe it beyond question.
She had heard it so many times that she accepted she was beautiful.
The definition of the word personified. Not in an arrrogant way ... just in a way that one would expect to accept something they'd heard all their life. If you'd heard all your life you're ugly or you'd be pretty if only you had a better smile ... she never heard those criticisms ... she came to believe that she was what the world saw as beautiful.
She knew her faults.
She knew she wanted to be loved for who she was ... not for what she looked like. It is not that she knew she was not beautiful it was that she knew she was no more beautiful than any newborn child. For some reason everyone saw in her the beauty of a newborn child. It became a burden. She wasn't "beautiful" in that sense ... she knew it ... she was human ... a "human" ... a beautiful human, she understood.
She, however, knew herself as only she and God knew. No matter what praise the world might lavish upon her ... she was still her ... the girl ... the being ... the creature she'd known all her life.
She wasn't the fantasy caught in a still frame. Though, the world might have embraced that "thing" in a picture ... that wasn't her to herself ... that was just one picture ... one still frame ... and life is more than that ... and that, she had grown to learn, painfully ... moment to moment ... is not what most people knew.
In a weird way she lived her life as an infant ... a fantasy ... but her life was hers ... not theirs ... not a poster on a wall ... no matter how much her fame and fortune were entwined with that image ... she was a woman ... a life ... a being ... someone that wanted more than a stillframe could ever know ... and so her secret became a quest to share that that one image is and is not her.
One moment in time may define a life to others ... but to the one whose life is being defined it is only one moment in a long relationship ... no matter how long the life ... it is only one moment in a lifetime relationship with God ... with one's Creator ... she knew she had to share that truth with others ... no matter how unpretty ... how damaging it might be to that "one moment" image ... and she did ... and survived ... providing testimony that no one understands ... a testimony that on the last day, in the last moment is between her and her God ... Who was there in the first moment when ... and in the moments that followed ... so many marvelled at what they did not understand ... what they saw ... but did not see ...
No one doubted.
With one picture ... the world took note. She was beautiful. No one questioned it.
She even came to believe it beyond question.
She had heard it so many times that she accepted she was beautiful.
The definition of the word personified. Not in an arrrogant way ... just in a way that one would expect to accept something they'd heard all their life. If you'd heard all your life you're ugly or you'd be pretty if only you had a better smile ... she never heard those criticisms ... she came to believe that she was what the world saw as beautiful.
She knew her faults.
She knew she wanted to be loved for who she was ... not for what she looked like. It is not that she knew she was not beautiful it was that she knew she was no more beautiful than any newborn child. For some reason everyone saw in her the beauty of a newborn child. It became a burden. She wasn't "beautiful" in that sense ... she knew it ... she was human ... a "human" ... a beautiful human, she understood.
She, however, knew herself as only she and God knew. No matter what praise the world might lavish upon her ... she was still her ... the girl ... the being ... the creature she'd known all her life.
She wasn't the fantasy caught in a still frame. Though, the world might have embraced that "thing" in a picture ... that wasn't her to herself ... that was just one picture ... one still frame ... and life is more than that ... and that, she had grown to learn, painfully ... moment to moment ... is not what most people knew.
In a weird way she lived her life as an infant ... a fantasy ... but her life was hers ... not theirs ... not a poster on a wall ... no matter how much her fame and fortune were entwined with that image ... she was a woman ... a life ... a being ... someone that wanted more than a stillframe could ever know ... and so her secret became a quest to share that that one image is and is not her.
One moment in time may define a life to others ... but to the one whose life is being defined it is only one moment in a long relationship ... no matter how long the life ... it is only one moment in a lifetime relationship with God ... with one's Creator ... she knew she had to share that truth with others ... no matter how unpretty ... how damaging it might be to that "one moment" image ... and she did ... and survived ... providing testimony that no one understands ... a testimony that on the last day, in the last moment is between her and her God ... Who was there in the first moment when ... and in the moments that followed ... so many marvelled at what they did not understand ... what they saw ... but did not see ...
Friday, September 26, 2014
Religion of peace?
There is so much I want to write about the beheading in Oklahoma ... I'm prompted, though I have mixed feelings, to post this instead related to Sy Miller and Jill Jackson ...
A Brief History of “Let There Be Peace on Earth, and Let It Begin with Me”
Sy Miller and Jill Jackson were a husband and wife songwriting team. In 1955 they wrote a song about their dream of peace for the world and how they believed each one of us could help create it.
They first introduced the song to a group of teenagers selected from their high schools to attend a weeklong retreat in California. The young people were purposefully from different religious, racial, cultural and economic backgrounds, brought together to experiment with creating understanding and friendship through education, discussion groups, and living and working together in a camp situation. Sy Miller wrote in his own words what happened:
“One summer evening in 1955, a group of 180 teenagers of all races and religions, meeting at a workshop high in the California mountains locked arms, formed a circle and sang a song of peace. They felt that singing the song, with its simple basic sentiment – 'Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me,' helped to create a climate for world peace and understanding.
‘When they came down from the mountain, these inspired young people brought the song with them and started sharing it. And, as though on wings, 'Let There Be Peace on Earth' began an amazing journey around the globe. It traveled first, of course, with the young campers back to their homes and schools, churches and clubs. Soon the circle started by the teenagers began to grow. Before long the song was being shared in all fifty states – at school graduations and at PTA meetings, at Christmas and Easter gatherings and as part of the celebration of Brotherhood Week. It was a theme for Veteran’s Day, Human Rights Day and United Nations Day. 4H Clubs and the United Auto Workers began singing it. So did the American Legion, the B’nai B’rith, the Kiwanis Clubs and CORE. It was taped, recorded, copied, printed in songbooks, and passed by word of mouth.
‘The song spread overseas to Holland, England, Italy, France, Germany, Lebanon, Japan, India; to South America, Central America, Africa, Asia and Australia. The Maoris in New Zealand sang it. The Zulus in Africa sang it.”
Professional singers began singing it. Over the years many artists have performed the song. Among them are Tennessee Ernie Ford, Andy Williams, Danny Kaye, Nat King Cole, the Smothers Brothers, Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Eddie Albert, Placido Domingo, Edie Adams, Gladys Knight, Mahalia Jackson, John Gary, Pearl Bailey, Roberta Shore, Champ Butler, the King Sisters, Mary Tyler Moore, John Raitt, Liberace, Bob Crosby, the International Children’s’ Choir, Gisele MacKensie, Lloyd Bridges, Patti Page, Angela Cartwright, the Young Americans, Jack Smith, Pat Boone, Crystal Gayle, Vince Gill, Harry Connick Jr., Johnny Mathis, Allison Chu, Rhonda Fleming, the Norman Luboff Choir. Television shows with Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Lorne Greene, The Boston Pops, Ted Mack and Father Keller have used the song.
“Let There Be Peace on Earth” was awarded the George Washington Honor Medal by the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge for “Outstanding achievement in helping to bring about a better understanding of the American Way of Life.” It also received a Brotherhood Award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews.
In Sy Miller’s words again: ‘This simple thought, 'Let There Be Peace on Earth, and Let It Begin With Me' first born on a mountain top in the voices of youth, continues to travel heart to heart – gathering in people everywhere who wish to become a note in a song of understanding and peace—peace for all mankind."
http://www.jan-leemusic.com/Site/History.html
A Brief History of “Let There Be Peace on Earth, and Let It Begin with Me”
Sy Miller and Jill Jackson were a husband and wife songwriting team. In 1955 they wrote a song about their dream of peace for the world and how they believed each one of us could help create it.
They first introduced the song to a group of teenagers selected from their high schools to attend a weeklong retreat in California. The young people were purposefully from different religious, racial, cultural and economic backgrounds, brought together to experiment with creating understanding and friendship through education, discussion groups, and living and working together in a camp situation. Sy Miller wrote in his own words what happened:
“One summer evening in 1955, a group of 180 teenagers of all races and religions, meeting at a workshop high in the California mountains locked arms, formed a circle and sang a song of peace. They felt that singing the song, with its simple basic sentiment – 'Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me,' helped to create a climate for world peace and understanding.
‘When they came down from the mountain, these inspired young people brought the song with them and started sharing it. And, as though on wings, 'Let There Be Peace on Earth' began an amazing journey around the globe. It traveled first, of course, with the young campers back to their homes and schools, churches and clubs. Soon the circle started by the teenagers began to grow. Before long the song was being shared in all fifty states – at school graduations and at PTA meetings, at Christmas and Easter gatherings and as part of the celebration of Brotherhood Week. It was a theme for Veteran’s Day, Human Rights Day and United Nations Day. 4H Clubs and the United Auto Workers began singing it. So did the American Legion, the B’nai B’rith, the Kiwanis Clubs and CORE. It was taped, recorded, copied, printed in songbooks, and passed by word of mouth.
‘The song spread overseas to Holland, England, Italy, France, Germany, Lebanon, Japan, India; to South America, Central America, Africa, Asia and Australia. The Maoris in New Zealand sang it. The Zulus in Africa sang it.”
Professional singers began singing it. Over the years many artists have performed the song. Among them are Tennessee Ernie Ford, Andy Williams, Danny Kaye, Nat King Cole, the Smothers Brothers, Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Eddie Albert, Placido Domingo, Edie Adams, Gladys Knight, Mahalia Jackson, John Gary, Pearl Bailey, Roberta Shore, Champ Butler, the King Sisters, Mary Tyler Moore, John Raitt, Liberace, Bob Crosby, the International Children’s’ Choir, Gisele MacKensie, Lloyd Bridges, Patti Page, Angela Cartwright, the Young Americans, Jack Smith, Pat Boone, Crystal Gayle, Vince Gill, Harry Connick Jr., Johnny Mathis, Allison Chu, Rhonda Fleming, the Norman Luboff Choir. Television shows with Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Lorne Greene, The Boston Pops, Ted Mack and Father Keller have used the song.
“Let There Be Peace on Earth” was awarded the George Washington Honor Medal by the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge for “Outstanding achievement in helping to bring about a better understanding of the American Way of Life.” It also received a Brotherhood Award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews.
In Sy Miller’s words again: ‘This simple thought, 'Let There Be Peace on Earth, and Let It Begin With Me' first born on a mountain top in the voices of youth, continues to travel heart to heart – gathering in people everywhere who wish to become a note in a song of understanding and peace—peace for all mankind."
http://www.jan-leemusic.com/Site/History.html
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Re-Thinking The Crusades?
I wonder, in light of current events, are any anti-Catholics or anti-Christians considering taking another intellectually honest look at the Crusades? I wonder if anyone's eyes are being opened enough to recognize - maybe the stories they've heard for so long about "those awful Christians" and "those innocent Muslims who were just trying to spread their faith" - ought to be looked into more deeply. I wonder.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
