Words on Music

As a blogger with several hundred essays, commentaries and other literary detritus to my, and others,’ credit I have often found inspiration from the music of my life.  I recently submitted this piece to a local newspaper that had put out a call for short essays on the impact of music in their lives.

Singer-songwriter John Denver (1943-1997) has provided some of the grist for the work of my last few years.  One of his comparatively less popular songs that I have played for many years on the soundtrack of my mind was his 1983 duet with Emmylou Harris, Wild Montana Skies.

 

I like this song because it tells the story, in its essential components, of the journey—even odyssey—of many people’s lives.

 

The song tells of a boy who was born in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana of a young single mother.  She died not long after his infancy and he was taken in by relatives.  They raised him on love and their prayers and taught him the skills to bloom where he was planted—in this case as a farmer, one who learned to love the land.  Like many youth, however, he left their home in his twenty-first year and moved to the city to pursue other paths.

 

Like the wild geese who fly far from their nativity but feel the pull to eventually return to their roots or early values the man . . . 

On the eve of his twenty first birthday, he set out on his own
He was thirty years and runnin' when he found his way back home
Ridin' a storm across the mountains and an achin' in his heart
Said he came to turn the pages and to make a brand new start

Now he never told the story of the time that he was gone
Some say he was a lawyer, some say he was a John
There was something in the city that he said he couldn't breathe
There was something in the country that he said he couldn't leave

Now some say he was crazy, some are glad he's gone
Some of us will miss him, we'll try to carry on
Giving a voice to the forest, giving a voice to the dawn
Giving a voice to the wilderness and the land that he lived on

Oh, oh, oh, Montana, give this child a home
Give him a love of a good family and a woman of his own
Give him a fire in his heart, give him a light in his eyes
Give him the wild wind for a brother and the wild Montana skies

Our roots usually draw us back home—even back to ‘Country Roads,’ or the ‘Wild Montana Skies.’

Perhaps the man was a little off ‘dead center’ on the continuum of judgmental normalcy (aren’t we all?—most are ‘outliers’ in some misunderstood dimension of their personality), nevertheless “some of us will miss him, we’ll try to carry on, giving a voice to the forest . . .” or whatever positive contribution his (our) legacy provided.

John Denver had a sensitivity and a true knack for the things of the heart (in his music and poetry, if not in his own personal life).  I have enjoyed many of his songs.  He was designated Poet Laureate of Colorado in 1974 and though not a Republican, was awarded the Presidential World Without Hunger Award by President Ronald Reagan in 1985.

Reflections and Insights of an Unabashed Old-schooler.

After nearly five years’ writing of my Omnium-Gatherum-Millerum musings I am ready (soon) to give it a facelift and a new title.  I am still, and always will be, highly indebted to the ‘giants’ whom I have never met—except through their writings—who have inspired me and persuaded me to continue in the hopes that my own postings (and theirs) may be helpful to someone else.

 

As I acknowledged in one of my very first forays into public writing I make no claim on ‘pure originality’ in most of my postings, but I do make them as an educated man. (Indeed, I believe that few writers from any age were ‘purely original.)  I give credit to the commonly attributed source when I know it, but often use my lifetime of notes and thoughts generated by my past and current reading, personal experiences, and, yes, ‘inspiration’ to provide my material.  What the reader can count on is that I believe in that which I write and which I selectively share in the writings of others, and I believe these things can have a positive influence on those who read with an open mind and open heart. 

I also remind the reader of this essay that I originally started my weblog at the urging of my wife and for the benefit of my children and stepchildren and close friends.  Unfortunately, I believe that few of these loved-ones read these things anymore (or ever did) with any regularity.  I console myself that one infinitely greater than I faced the same difficulty: “And when [Jesus] was come into his own country, he taught them….[And] they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?  Is not this the carpenter’s son. . . ? And they were offended in him.  But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.  And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief” (Matthew 13:54-58).  I am not a prophet, but I am a man who loves his family.

Lastly, as anyone who has read me knows, my postings are of a decidedly ‘moralistic’ flavor.  This is intentional.  It is intentional even at the expense of ‘offending’ potential readership.  Being a moralist in the 21^st Century is very out-of-style and out-of-step with the Millennial and even the late Baby-boomer generations.  But being a moralist, “the voice of one crying in the wilderness” (see Matthew 3:1-3) seems more and more in my old age to be my calling.  There are few who do it because of its ‘political incorrectness’ and because many good people have been cowed into submission because of the twisting of the terms ‘tolerance’ and ‘judgmental’ and even ‘bigoted’ or ‘mean-spirited.’ People who use these and similar terms are not on the high ground.  More often than not they are just strident self-justifiers of their own immorality.

The weight of the centuries—the values and virtues and principles that have sustained civilizations are at issue.  We devalue or disregard them at our own peril. I, for one, defend them unabashedly and invite others to come on board.

Times and Seasons

In the 2^nd and 3^rd chapters of the book of Ecclesiastes of the Bible the ‘preacher,’ or teacher, (perhaps King Solomon in his elderly years) looks at his life and comes to the conclusion that most of it was meaningless.  He uses the word “vanity” at least 35 times.  Vanity, in King James English derives from the Hebrew word ‘hevel’ meaning a mere breath, a ‘puff’, a ‘whiff’ that is here and gone, or transitory and not enduring.  He looks at the human experience and sees man pursuing hopes and expectations that being centered on worldly pleasures cannot be satisfied.

 

What makes life not meaningless, he finds,  requires a change of focus, from that of material ‘things,’ or transitory pleasures, or honors of men, or man’s wisdom,  to the purposes of God for man—God’s wisdom.

  

God sees the end from the beginning and so gives (or gifts) man with 'times and seasons' to do that which will lead him to a fulfilling life. The ‘preacher’ acknowledges this in the 3^rd chapter and tells us “To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven” (vs. 1). In verse 11 he says “[God] hath made every thing beautiful in his time.” It can likewise be so in our time if we discover the purpose and use it well.

  

In his existential despair the ‘preacher’ fluctuates between insightful wisdom and his own personal angst in the twelve chapters of this little book, but the  overarching insight he comes to is that God has ordered all things for the proper use by man (in its ‘time’ and in its ‘season’) and “for a man to rejoice and to do good in his life” (3:12).

 

I distill all this down to a few thought that come to mind with this reading from the holy scriptures:

• ·Every day is a good day—no matter what the weather.
• When it is the time or the season to plant then plant; to harvest, harvest; to lay up for the future then sacrifice or save or insure; to get an education then do it; to find a mate or an occupation then apply yourself to it; to serve, then serve.  But “do not run faster or labor more than you have strength and means provided . . . but be diligent unto the end.” (D&C 10:4)

• See the world for what it is and enjoy it.  Leave the environment alone enough to let it do what it is supposed to do for us; the earth was made for man to discover, enjoy, use with wisdom but not to abuse.

• Try to achieve and maintain a balance in your life.  Get into a rhythm and harmonize with the world around you—with the gift of your mind and body; the people around you; the environment and circumstances you are put into; the resources you find yourself stewards of.

• As the turning of the earth around its own axis each day and the orbiting of the earth around the sun each year we find ourselves with new beginnings: a new day, a new year, new opportunities to repent, to grow, to move forward. Resolve, in some way, to make every day better than the last one.

• When a season, such as the Christmas season, comes around do everything you can to get in harmony with it.  The same with Springtime, or times of Thanksgiving and harvest, times when we have increased capacities such as the strength of youth, or the seasoned perspective of advanced years, or when we have more material resources than we need.

• Use the new seasons, the new times, the new people we meet, the new knowledge we discover, our accumulated resources, for the purposes they were given to us—to become better people, and to help others to become better; in short, to meet the measure of our creation and lay the foundation for joy in this life and eternal felicity in the life to come.