Thursday, April 19, 2007

The More Things Change

Of the many hours of my childhood spent on the school bus, two memories keep returning to me this week.

First is the time we were bustled onto the bus early because a student with a gun was in the Principal's office threatening suicide. I can still feel my visceral reaction when I heard the kid's name, a friend whom I'd recently brushed off.

Second- and this dates me- I've been thinking about the words to a song, "Little Good News" by Anne Murray. It played on the radio as we rode home from school and I wondered about all the bad news she told about.

Wouldn't it be great, I thought, if all the bad news went away.

But the news Anne Murray sang about in 1983 is the same news we're hearing today - fighting the Middle East, the economy, arson, robbery, hostage situations, assassinations, problems in the Third World.

In light of the Virginia Tech Massacre I guess I'm disheartened, but not surprised. The world is fallen and it cannot redeem itself. My prayers are with the families of those killed, the family of the shooter, and with the many young people whose lives will be forever changed by this event.

I heard a song yesterday that recognizes hopelessness, yet ends on a note of hope. A modern companion to "Little Good News", it is "Will's Lullaby" by Josh Radin.

the rain in new orleans
forgot to end
but the mouths of the people are dry
and we watch and wait
and do nothing but sigh
and hope everything is gonna turn out right
but i don't know if it'll be alright

In the last verse of this song, Josh looks down on his sleeping son in his crib and realizes that hope lies not in the past, but in the future.

Still, misplaced hope and promises will surely leave us empty in the end, asking the same questions in another 20 years and another 20 years after that.

for lyrics to these two songs, visit Lyrics Depot and Josh Radin's site.

1 comment:

brenvanc said...

Sometimes when we have so much to say but have no words of our own we fall back to the wise words ... in song or in poem ... of yesterday.

Kind hearts are the gardens,
Kind thoughts are the roots,
Kind words are the flowers,
Kind deeds are the fruits,

Take care of your garden
And keep out the weeds,
Fill it with sunshine
Kind words and kind deeds.
...Longfellow

The "world" may be "fallen and ... cannot redeem itself" but individually we are redeemed and do have hope.

It is times and "acts" like these that often cause someone to reexamine their own life and perhaps move closer to the Redeemer. I pray we find a way to use this tragedy to help others find their true hope.

Perhaps it is time to expand my own garden.