(Click photo to enlarge)
And where do we go from here?
Well, we certainly don't have any better answers than others or all the "talking head experts" who are so consistently so wrong, about so much, so often.
Which brings us to this touching note (via The Guitar Refinishing and Restoration Forum :: This year's Pinewood Derby Car...), we received awhile back and felt like sharing.
From a father who proudly helped his son, a Boy Scout, complete a Neil-themed pinewood derby car. Anders ( age 11) is with a Cub Scout in Minnesota and is a big Neil Young fan and guitar player. He's also a big fan of Neil's Old Black guitar since he was 5 when he played harmonica for his dad's band on a cover version of "Flags of Freedom" at a benefit gig in Minnesota.
Anders' Pinewood Derby car was pretty slow in competition but he won a trophy in the best Not-a-Car category. As the Father said, "My son continues to Keep Rocking in the Free World."
To which we say, love and only love.
Thanks Ray "Old Black"!
Best of luck.
ps - yes, we've hugged the ones we love today.
That is an amazing piece of work! They will both remember doing that together... forever...
ReplyDeletepeace,
Sandy
A Change is Gonna Come
ReplyDeleteNo more tears, no pain, no woe
In this wicked world below
--Hank Williams
Blessed are the peacemakers
For they shall be called the children of God
--Matthew 5:9
Today is a special day on the religious calendar: it is both Gaudete Sunday and the eighth and final day of Hanukkah. This is a day intended for rejoicing and celebration, a day for gathering with family and friends to observe and be thankful. A day that should be greeted with joy and with the affirmation of life and love.
But on this day, there is no rejoicing. On this day, there is only great sadness and disbelief. On this day, we are left wondering. Wondering about the impossible, horrible events that took place two days ago. Wondering how any human being could think of such things, prepare for such things, actually do such things. Wondering how to continue living in a world where such things can happen. Wondering how a world of such beauty and joy could somehow be invaded by such depravity and horror. Wondering how such sadness is possible.
Sadness for all the beautiful children. Sadness for all the beautiful children. Sadness for all the beautiful children.
Sadness for all their loving families. Sadness for all their loving friends. Sadness for their sweet lives. Remember what is was like when you were six or seven years old and the holidays were here and school was almost over? How exciting it was every day? How impossibly wonderful the world was and how every day was better than the one before?
Sadness for all the wonderfully brave adults. Sadness for all their loving families and friends. Sadness and numb incomprehension. Have you ever lost someone without warning? Someone who was just going about the regular business of living, and then suddenly they were gone? Someone who you thought would always be there? And then they weren't?
But on this day, there is also remembering. Remembering what all these people taught us. Remembering the unimaginable fear and the incredible bravery. Remembering the dedication of the principal and the teachers and the parents and the children. Remembering the laughter and the love. Remembering that this is our life, this is our world, this is our future and this is our choice. Namaste Sandy Hook....
"Give us a lamp to light the way
Unto the land of perfect day"
Thank you Sandy & Mr Henry.
ReplyDeleteThank you for caring.
As long as we have folks who care, we'll have hope.
Light a candle...
Very touching comments by Mr Henry
ReplyDeleteand it is sad that little children
anywhere are taking away from the people that love them so much in
tragic and in a horrific manner,
i am not religious in any shape
or form but to the people connected to this tragedy and who may well be i say to you may your
god shine his love around you in
your hour of need,and i would ask
folk out in america to have a thought for children in gaza,iraq
afganistan libya and syria who have
also been murdered by guns and bombs and have also had their future dreams taken away from them
i ask people to stop and think about their own morals and values
and to question more and help stop these outrages against fellow human
beings,we are all one soul and when you harm others you harm yourself too! we together as a species need to learn how to love
and to be as one with a better understanding of what it means to be human and say no more not in my name!
What Child Is This
ReplyDeleteThat is such an amazingly cool car and project! What a great testament of love and caring and dedication. I watched The President speaking last night at Newtown. Incredibly moving, especially when he talked about the job of a parent and a country: "If we don't get that right, we don't get anything right." Ray and Anders totally get it right. And as Sandy so beautifully puts it "They will both remember doing that together... forever..." This got me thinking about a day in my life.
When I was in first grade, there was an award assembly near the end of the school year. You know, the kind that everyone has been to themselves and/or with their kids. I remember walking in, looking around the room and then suddenly seeing both of my parents. They were looking very closely at me, and they had the biggest smiles I can ever remember. I was getting an award that day; that's why they were there. It was some kind of "best reader" achievement, and I still have the book which I received that day. It's signed by my teacher along with a wonderful note to me. This was fifty years ago now. And what I remember most is when I first saw my mom and my dad, how happy they looked seeing me. I can still see them there, and when I do they are still here and I am still with them. Their love from that day will endure with me forever.
Saturday night I heard two music tributes and remembrances for the children and adults of Sandy Hook. The second one was the transcendent opening for Saturday Night Live. I was watching live and knew immediately what was happening, from the second that I saw all the children in their choir robes. Absolutely perfect!
Earlier that night, I had seen a performance of the Charlie Brown Christmas music performed by Heather Pierson and her amazing quartet. I had seen an incredible performance last December, and this one was equally great from some marvelous musicians. After the set was finished, the crowd demanded more and received two songs for the encore. The first song was on solo piano, and when Heather introduced it as "my favorite non Christmas Christmas song" I knew what was coming. She performed a beautiful version of Joni's song River, and you could tell from her singing and her playing that this was a special number. She never mentioned a tribute or remembrance, but you just knew. Same as with the SNL open with Silent Night and The New York Children's Chorus. Second song was also a tribute, this time introduced by Heather and dedicated to Dave Brubeck "who changed music forever". Best version I've ever heard of Take Five, except when I heard Dave perform it!
So for all the victims, all the children in the world who suffer and die in this "world of greed and hate", and for all those who continue the struggle to "wrestle the world from fools", here is Greensleeves performed at The Little White Church. As Anonymous so magnificently puts it, we all "...need to learn how to love and to be as one with a better understanding of what it means to be human....". Amen Brother!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSt17grFupA&list=PL246306B1A19901D9&index=17
"Look for the Helpers!"
--Fred Rogers
It was not until I had kids of my own that I understood the power of love. We kept our kids home today. Not out of fear. Not out of doubt. But out of love. We played games. We watched some TV. We spent time together, occasional laughter, occasional fights. But it was a good day. Yet a day of reflection. "Let me wander there, let me wonder why". Over the course of winning a war, you will lose some battles. This week we lost one. But the pursuit of the final victory must continue. Peace.
ReplyDeleteAnders, your model car is absolutely amazing! The detail and accuracy is phenomenal! I would love to have one of those models on my desk. If you get around to it some cold winter day, you might consider making a model of Neil's red wedge pedal with silver buttons and maybe a tall old time microphone and stand with yellow ribbon. Maybe a wooden indian like Neil's. You are obviously very, very skilled to match the detail so well! Congratulations on such an excellent project well done! I'm proud of you.
ReplyDeleteThat is excellent, really impressed.
ReplyDeleteI am confused and a little bit disturbed by comments made by Anom
ReplyDelete2 comments up talking about losing
battles and winning wars,hey? whats all that about listen what battes and wars are you talking about? is this really the mind set
of the average american? we are talking about little children being murdered by who knows who for what reasons? the only battles and wars you may be going on about
are being waged against any nation
that stands up to the bullying of the usa so while your coming down of your anti.depressants or booze
try putting yourself in the shoes
of the mothers and fathers of kids
all over the world (gaza iraq syria afganistan pakistan etc who
are being murdered by bullets bombs
and drones,i also wonder if you can work out the connection? peace
and freedom is not attained by men in suits sitting in the shadows
but by the people,john lennon once
said" people have the power" and that we all have the answer inside
remember in the early 1970s lennon
put adverts on billboards in many major cities around the western world? "WAR IS OVER" if you want it? look into your own heart and ask yourself do i want peace? because the truth is we are all one
consciousness,one soul,the late great Bill hicks talked about this
but he like Lennon died young,can
you connect the dots? open your eyes and your hearts to the truth
before its to late.