Hot Time In The City

Has anyone noticed that the Middle East is about to explode?

There are several things in life that you just should know not to do.

#1. Make fun of a fat girl
#2 Laugh when your girl does something stupid
#3 Forget to compliment your girl when she looks nice
#4 Kidnap or kill Israeli soldiers

So someone stupid has kidnapped and killed some Israeli soldiers and now they are blowing up everything in sight.

This is not good.

If this is the roadmap for peace then I think we’ve hit a pothole. A big one!

So on the way to work this morning I was listening to this on public radio and it just got too damned depressing so I decided I would pop in some troubadour music.

Familiar with troubadours?

They are the people that sing deeper. Singer/Songwriters that have a cause. You can go back to Woody Guthrie or Bob Dylan or early Bruce Springsteen. Tom Waites, Robert Earl Keen, Lucinda Williams, John Prine and Lyle Lovett come to mind as well. But my favorite one these days is Steve Earle. What a guy. He got my attention with Copperhead Road and after seeing him in concert 6 or 7 times I am still blown away by his – whatever that is – that makes you hear straight through him.

So I popped in his song Jerusalem and listened. Check out these lyrics:

I woke up this mornin’ and none of the news was good
And death machines were rumblin’ cross the ground where Jesus stood
And the man on the TV told me that it had always been that way
And there was nothin’ nobody could do or say

And I almost listened to him
Yea, I almost closed my mind
Then I regained my senses again
And looking into my heart to find

That I believe that one fine day – all the children of Abraham
Will lay down their swords forever in Jerusalem

Well maybe I’m only a dreamer and maybe I’m just a fool
But I don’t remember learning how to hate in Sunday School
But somewhere along the way I strayed and I never looked back again
But I still find some comfort now and then

Then the storm comes rumblin’ in
And I can’t lay me down
And the drums are drummin’ again
And I can’t stand the sound

But I believe there’ll come a day when the lion and the lamb
Will lie down in peace together in Jerusalem

And there’ll be no barricades then
There’ll be no wire or walls
And we can wash all this blood from our hands
And all this hatred from our souls

And I believe that on that day – all the children of Abraham
Will lay down their swords
Forever in Jerusalem

So what do you think? Pretty powerful stuff, ain’t it?

It seems the world is crashing down around us and all I can hear is the music of the ages and the eternal truths that are shouted from the mountain tops.

All we need is love. All we need is love.

With love comes understanding. With love comes compassion. With love comes compromise. With love comes everything.

So love someone today. And tell someone that needs to hear it to love someone. And when you encounter hate, don’t respond in kind, just love them until it makes them sick.

Because that is the only way we can change anything.

Peace to you and yours.

I’m outta here!