Years ago, I was working Upstate New York, heading to Buffalo, when one of those lake-effect snow storms came out of nowhere. I remember seeing stuff about these on the Weather Channel when winter began in Upstate NY, but I was never IN one of these storms.
Well, I was still about 10 miles from Buffalo, out in the country. It was night, and there were no streetlights. I was in a rent-a-car, front-wheel drive and knew immediately I was hosed. Now, I’m from Philly and have lived through some blizzards in my lifetime, but I’ve never been in anything like this. At this time in my life, I was NOT very close to God. I hadn’t been to church in a couple of years. But I found myself praying those foxhole prayers we always hear about. You know, the ones… “God, if you get me out of this mess, I’ll do such and such.” Well, I must have prayed a bucket full of those prayers. I promised God everything I could think of.
Ever been in a situation like that?
And… I’m not just talking about the darkness at night. Heck, I’ve sat in broad daylight on a beach in Jersey and felt completely in darkness. Many of you know I’m a recovering alcoholic. Well, the late afternoon of August 30, 1997… there I was, sitting on the beach, having just come to the realization that I was an alkie. The sun was out, the temperature in the 90s, and my soul was utterly dark. I was lost, just like I was in Upstate NY, looking for a street light to guide me.
Now, you may be saying, as you did once before, okay, DeFrehn, where are you going with this?
Well, as I look out over the landscape of America, I’m not sure about you, but I see large pockets of “darkness.” And honestly, I feel lost. The country I grew up in appears gone.
Yet, we should not despair. For this has happened before in the land of the free and the home of the brave. On November 22, 1963, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, TX. After hearing that news, Paul Simon went into a room in his home with great acoustics and wrote “The Sounds of Silence.” I was almost 12 years old.
These lines of that great song still chill my spine 60 years later:
And the sign said, “The words of the prophetsAre written on the subway wallsAnd tenement halls…
Why? Heck, don’t we all want to hear the prophet’s words to guide us when we’re lost? In November of 1963, America was lost. Camelot was no more. By 1965, our soldiers were dying in rice paddies in Vietnam. The war lasted 10 years. By 1976, Americans were waiting in gas lines to fill their cars up. Stagflation had hit America. By 1979, American hostages were in Iran. America was a dark place. “Hello darkness, my old friend.”
So… even though I may feel lost and feel that my country is lost, we’ve always had the propensity to bounce back.
I pray we do again… but this time I need not pray those foxhole prayers… for I believe that “darkness” — as it says in John’s Good News — “will never overcome the light.
Those who have followed me for a few years know I love music, history, and movies. I’d like to end this brief post with a scene from a fairly “dark” movie with “light” at its end: the movie I Am Legend. In this scene, you are about to see Will Smith’s character brings to Annie’s attention the person of Bob Marley.
Marley was shot two days before a concert in his home land of Jamaica in 1976. Two days later he walked out onto the stage. People asked why? Marley said,
“The people who are trying to make this world worse are NOT taking a day off.”
“How can I?”
The scene ends with Smith saying, “… light up the darkness.”
Can music and love end all of our troubles here in America and around the world. Doubtful.
But it ain’t a bad place to start.
Peace
P.S. If you have the time, check out my Home Page. And thanks for checking in. I plan to do a blog post at least once a month, so stay tuned. Oh yeah, if you are a believer. Happy Easter.
Nice blog and Happy Easter to you!
George:
Your blog reminded me of something. I was at a meeting in Wisconsin in the dead of winter. I was driving a rental car later that night to visit my college roommates Mom, who treated me like family when I went to school there, in spite of them just scraping by with 5 kids of their own. I was lost and pulled into a closed gas station because the windshield wipers were frozen. I was wearing a suit and hopped out of the car to try and fix them. The car door slammed shut and locked me out! Middle of nowhere. Freezing temps and snow. no one around. And I was locked out of my car. By some miracle (?) I banged on the door of the office, a light turned on and the owner, who was asleep on the couch came out and jimmied the door open! Somebody was lookin’ out for the (other) kid from Olney.
Really liked your message AND the music choices are great. Blessings be to you this Easter time!
Our beautiful country 😥 I think about my grandfather ( gassed in France in WWI) and my dad, an airplane mechanic in Italy in WWII. Who appreciates their service or what they were fighting for!? It is a depressing situation and this post was so well written and, if not falsely optimistic, it did at least remind me that we’ve been through this before. I just loved how it was written. XXOO Jane
Happy Easter George to you and your loved ones. Feeling the same about the dark feeling in our country right now. I have hope in my heart …. the light will shine and we will get through this time.
I believe in angels walking on this earth. Knocking on the dark door of the gas station and receiving the help for the locked car door is definitely one!
Congrats on all of your fantastic work! You deserve all of it!
Jude 🌼
Hater’s Hate! And if they get you to return the hate, they win!
We refuse to hate George! Keep shining that “light”, my Friend, for me, and I’ll try my best to carry it to the next .
Happy Easter and welcome back! Missed you 💕
Yes, this is a good time to reflect on meaningful times past. Very well said, Thanks George!