by Pa Rock
Poetry Appreciator
This humble typist has a lot in common with American songwriter and poet Jackson Browne. Not only were we both seventeen in sixty-five, we also share a healthy disregard for war. Browne, who was maturing and forming his worldview during the Vietnam War, saw and understood the hypocrisy of the rich initiating wars which were ultimately paid for and fought by the poor. Now, as Donald John Trump discovers the the unbridled joys of commanding "his" very own military and being a warrior from the complete safety of an exclusive country club in Florida, Jackson Browne's thoughts on war seem more prescient than ever.
As Browne so clearly points out, the "men in the shadows" are never the ones to fight and die.
When wars are fought to actually eliminate things like poverty, disease, racism, sexism, and homophobia, this old man will do everything he can to help the cause - but until then spare me the platitudes that encourage blind allegiance to battles for oil routes, trade pacts, business interests, religion, hateful borders, or press relations.
Here are Jackson Browne's words on war. May they resonate forever.
Lives in the Balance
by Jackson Browne
I've been waiting for something to happen
For a week or a month or a year
With the blood in the ink of the headlines
And the sound of the crowd in my ear
You might ask what it takes to remember
When you know that you've seen it before
Where a government lies to a people
And a country is drifting to war
There's a shadow on the faces
Of the men who send the guns
To the wars that are fought in places
Where their business interests run
On the radio talk shows and TV
You hear one thing again and again
How the USA stands for freedom
And we come to the aid of a friend
But who are the ones that we call our friends?
These governments killing their own?
Or the people who finally can't take anymore
And they pick up a gun or a brick or a stone
And there are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire
There's a shadow on the faces
Of the men who fan the flames
Of the wars that are fought in places
Where we can't even say the names
They sell us the president the same way
They sell us our clothes and our cars
They sell us everything from youth to religion
The same time they sell us our wars
I want to know who the men in the shadows are
I want to hear somebody asking them why
They can't be counted on to tell us who our enemies are
But they're never the ones to fight or to die
And there are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire
Poetry Appreciator
This humble typist has a lot in common with American songwriter and poet Jackson Browne. Not only were we both seventeen in sixty-five, we also share a healthy disregard for war. Browne, who was maturing and forming his worldview during the Vietnam War, saw and understood the hypocrisy of the rich initiating wars which were ultimately paid for and fought by the poor. Now, as Donald John Trump discovers the the unbridled joys of commanding "his" very own military and being a warrior from the complete safety of an exclusive country club in Florida, Jackson Browne's thoughts on war seem more prescient than ever.
As Browne so clearly points out, the "men in the shadows" are never the ones to fight and die.
When wars are fought to actually eliminate things like poverty, disease, racism, sexism, and homophobia, this old man will do everything he can to help the cause - but until then spare me the platitudes that encourage blind allegiance to battles for oil routes, trade pacts, business interests, religion, hateful borders, or press relations.
Here are Jackson Browne's words on war. May they resonate forever.
Lives in the Balance
by Jackson Browne
I've been waiting for something to happen
For a week or a month or a year
With the blood in the ink of the headlines
And the sound of the crowd in my ear
You might ask what it takes to remember
When you know that you've seen it before
Where a government lies to a people
And a country is drifting to war
There's a shadow on the faces
Of the men who send the guns
To the wars that are fought in places
Where their business interests run
On the radio talk shows and TV
You hear one thing again and again
How the USA stands for freedom
And we come to the aid of a friend
But who are the ones that we call our friends?
These governments killing their own?
Or the people who finally can't take anymore
And they pick up a gun or a brick or a stone
And there are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire
There's a shadow on the faces
Of the men who fan the flames
Of the wars that are fought in places
Where we can't even say the names
They sell us the president the same way
They sell us our clothes and our cars
They sell us everything from youth to religion
The same time they sell us our wars
I want to know who the men in the shadows are
I want to hear somebody asking them why
They can't be counted on to tell us who our enemies are
But they're never the ones to fight or to die
And there are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire
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