Until that time, when I was in my late teens, I had not
given the matter much thought. Growing up, we were too busy surviving, dealing
with finances, illnesses, 3 kids (me the oldest), daddy’s frightening drinking
spells, mom trying her best, and more. I saw the film the year after I
graduated from high school.
I had, until then, been pretty much shielded from the
issues. I had grown up in a middle class neighborhood in Philly (even though we
couldn’t afford it, being low income blue collar). I had gone to parochial
schools and had not traveled much at all outside of my neighborhood and the
school neighborhoods.
By 1958, I was 18 and in my first job (other than
babysitting before that), and travelling the whole city using buses, subways
and els. I was working with lots of different people and riding with them. My
eyes were opening - widely!
Anyhow, these lyrics were so strong and so real that I
wonder why we are not reviving that song as a sort of theme against the evils
we are seeing still today. How can we have come through so many decades in our
country and still be like this?
I think it’s also time for us to pray, steadily and
strongly, for peace in our country. The world really does watch us. If we can
get past our differences, maybe others will follow.
No comments:
Post a Comment