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Friday, August 6, 2010

Red.

On the road again, headed to family reunion…part two! This is the second-grad-party session, when my extended family that lives far from home congratulates me on my accomplishments and eats good food. God bless ‘em.

A comment on an earlier post asked when I address questions from comments…to address your question, Anonymous, I usually address your comment questions in a later post. As is being demonstrated as you read this. (If you’re even reading this.) Unfortunately, I am once again blogging on the road and can’t go back and see what else you asked. You’re right, blogging can be a handful at times.

You know what’s a real drag? Writer’s block. When I don’t know what to write about, I usually turn to song lyrics…they often provide some food for thought. (Isn’t that a funny expression? “Food for thought?” I picture one of those cartoon thought-bubble clouds gnashing its teeth at a dictionary/steak.) So, naturally, I listened to one of Sara Bareilles’ lesser-known songs…I think it was “Red.” She says (or sings, rather), “You cannot change what you do not own…if you live deep and love strong, you get pretty close.”

I was thinking about what that could mean…I take it as a life lesson, saying that when you live life for yourself, you can end up changing the way other people live theirs. I mean, you can’t change others; the world is the way it is because we have free will. It’s not a perfect world, but I’d hate to see it without individuals. Anyway…”if you live deep and love strong,” people are likely to follow suit.

I have 113 songs on my computer that include the word “love.” And I don’t even have all my music on there. I can’t help but wonder how close these songs are to the real thing. Love isn’t something that people take seriously anymore.

How many times a day do we use the word “love?” What about the phrase “I love you?” I wrote a poem several years ago commenting on how we can “love both our spouses and onion rings.” Shouldn’t there be a middle ground between a vague appreciation and true, unconditional love? Just about every language besides English has more than one word for “love.” Greek and Hebrew have seven, I believe. I dunno. Clearly some things are just lost in translation.

And when it comes to music…maybe the most sincere love songs are the ones that don’t include the L-word at all. Those singers/songwriters realize that real love shouldn’t be a top-40 hit or just a click away for an iTunes download.

And maybe I’m just hypercritical. But you know…someone has to be.

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