If it keeps on raining, the levee's gonna break,
Some people are still sleeping
Some people ARE WIDE AWAKE."-Bob Dylan 2006 Modern Times
Five years ago to this very Tuesday in September, Bob Dylan's previous most recent release, "Love and Theft" came out. Last week, the sixty-five year old legend released "Modern Times" and Dylan has kept the party going.
That day, five years ago when the Twin Towers fell and the Pentagon tattered, I didn't know anything about it until 12:45 PM when my daughter phoned from high school. She wanted to know if it was the end of the world, and I wondered the same too, when I turned the TV on.
I also recalled a song I first heard in 1981:
The "Shot of Love" album had been Bob's third in a row with some undisputable Christian themes. The Groom is a biblical metaphor for Christ, and the Bride is understood to be a lover of God. For a Christian this great analogy takes the fear out of death, for ones physical demise releases one to union with God. Thus, the release in dying can be anticipated to be one incredible cosmic orgasm.
But on that day, we call 9/11 after the shock and awe had passed from the initial images of smoke and despair, I quit hearing Bob Dylan in my head, and then recalled a passage from II Chronicles 6:1:
"The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness."
I have recalled that verse often in the aftermath of the way America chose to respond to a few angry men who hated America so much that they could target and murder innocent people. I also wonder about the words of Lincoln and how he always reflected upon if he was on Gods side.
But, five years ago on that day in September that the world stood still, Bob Dylan's "Love and Theft" was released and even though my heart was heavy and I wanted to stay glued to the TV, life continued.
I had a hair appointment that afternoon and had already planned on picking up Bob's latest. I did both those things and I still do visit that hairdresser every six weeks. Not an appointment goes by that we don't both recall that we spent a few hours together watching TV on that day that changed the world as we had known it.
On my way home, I popped "Love and Theft" into the CD player of my Explorer [which I traded in for an economical Acura four years ago] and for the twenty minute drive, I was transported to a different place and a new time. Bob sounded like he was having fun, but I really couldn't get into it that day, for once again, an earworm from 1981 had returned.
On any given TV station, or the Internet, one can readily see the massacre of the innocent, cities on fire, and phones go out of order. When I reflect on that day we call 9/11, I see the turning of a page and a curtain has risen on a new age. Life as we had known it prior to 9/11, will not return, for Big Brother has grown.
On the eve of the fifth anniversary of that day we call 9/11, I recall two things, the first being the words of the most radical of all the founding fathers, Tom Paine who penned words of wisdom still unheeded:
"Soon after I had published the pamphlet "Common Sense" [on Feb. 14, 1776] in America, I saw the exceeding probability that a revolution in the system of government would be followed by a revolution in the system of religion... The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion."
I also recall a parable, a short story that Christ told about a Bridegroom and ten Virgins. In ancient times, weddings went on for days [if not weeks] and anyone who accepted an invitation to a wedding understood it was a commitment of time and money, for jobs were abandoned in order to be at the happening.
The custom of the time was for the Bridegroom to decide exactly when the wedding occurred. It could be the first day of festivities or even the ninth! No one knew when the Groom would appear, and the story Christ told was about ten virgins waiting for their man. Five were unprepared for his arrival and were out shopping when he came, so they were left out of the Bridal Chamber and you can imagine how frustrating that would be.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
