As the world burns with strife and yearns for peace, I sent my son a link to a you tube video of Mahalia Jackson and Dinah Shore singing Down by the Riverside.
He liked it.
I am pleasantly surprised that he was so ready to connect with the song and its message, that he can listen to the words in the song and make a space in his heart for them, and for all the embracing warmth exuding from Mahalia Jackson and Dinah Shore as they sing this, "I ain ˜t gonna study war no moe song.
An embracing warmth which speaks of peace, brotherhood, sisterhood, similar to what I experienced during my walk at the beach this morning.
A song which speaks of a place where this country has not been in, in quite a few years. Not since the eight years of George W. Bush's drummed up, "War on Terror. Not since Barack Obama took the reins from George W. Bush to continue with what now so many refer to as the George W. Bush policies.
The song is reminiscent of the promise of peace experienced during the Kennedy years, the Carter years, the Clinton years.
"I'm gonna put my long white rob, I ain't gonna study war no moe. Down by the Riverside. I ain't gonna study war no moe. I'm gonna put my long white rob, I ain't gonna study war no moe. Well, I'm gonna lay down my sword shield.
Down By The Riverside I Ain't Gonna Study War No Moe.
Somehow those lyrics are today's unheard, ignored and disregarded battle cry:
No. Moe. Wars!
Not down by the riverside.
Not in the desert sands.
Not by the desert dunes.
Not by the oil rich fields.
Not in the luscious, verdant oases.
Not between the States.
Not by the river valley.
Not on the mountain swells.
Not on the city streets.
Not on my neighbor's land.
"I ain't gonna study war no moe.
Not by " (you fill in the stanza, the place ")
The point is, we, the American people don't wanna study war no moe!
The Bushes idealized war. They were/are on the profits side of it.
Obama isn ˜t listening.
Don't seem he ever sat down by the riverside.
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