Open a newspaper, watch the news on TV, or even just scroll down Twitter or your Facebook feed…..depressing?
It seems we are all at odds and can’t seem to find middle ground or a zone to work together and get along. People dig into sides and seem to have stopped listening or considering other points of view. October marks a happy month of celebration, Halloween, but it also screams election commercials, cluttering road signs, and political rhetoric. Where are the truly qualified candidates? Are you taken in by the constant lies of campaign slamming?
I have reached saturation and shut it out. I know that is bad and exactly what those that oppose my views, want me to do. Damned if I do, damned if I don’t. I am naive enough to believe that change can only happen one person at a time. If I make every effort to do the right thing, care for my family and friends, and live within the laws of the land, then and only then, can I hope that my experience may bubble over and influence those that I am closest to and care for the most. I really try to read and take in what information I can, on all sides. I try to form an opinion. Do I want to share my opinion ? No. I fear the scary backlash of the tactical shaming. So I remain quiet and go on with my day. Some would say that is a serious cop out.
Have we really all changed that much? Hasn’t this kind of behavior happened over and over again throughout history?
Indifference, to serious frustration, to change?
This tune sparked some thought for me. It is the perfect combination of sparkly indie-pop and lyrics with some interesting depth. Okay, maybe I spent too much time sifting through the Sunday paper today, but when I listen to these lyrics, I interpret them to refer to two sides, two separate beliefs that clash, and fights that repeat, over and over again. Listen.
https://soundcloud.com/partisan-records/freeman-the-english-and-western-stallion
Aaron Freeman (a.k.a. Gene Ween) was once half of the band, Ween. After their breakup and his own push to sobriety, he has created something new and formidable and pure. His voice is familiar and his songs memorable and “The English and Western Stallion” is a case in point. I am hooked and want to continue to listen. I think the album Freeman, is one that will actually set him free from the hard parts of his haunting past and strike a sweet chord to a truer, clearer future.
“Truth can be found within
both English and Western stallion…”
Perhaps, music can facilitate some sort of change in the world, one song at a time, one person at a time. Go on listen again.
