The crowding of children into insufficient, often squalid spaces seems an inexplicable anomaly in the United States. Images of spaciousness and majesty, of endless plains and soaring mountains, fill our folklore and our music and the anthems that our children sing. "This land is your land," they are told; and, in one of the patriotic songs that children truly love because it summons up so well the goodness and optimism of the nation at its best, they sing of "good" and "brotherhood" "from sea to shining sea." It is a betrayal of the best things that we value when poor children are obliged to sing these songs in storerooms and coat closets.
- pgs. 159-160 in Savage Inequalities, by Jonathan Kozol
Friday, July 18, 2008
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
How to stay a Christian in college
I've been thinking. I've recently run across some online and print publications about "How to stay a Christian in college." I think the reason these publications view this as a big issue is because many young, naive Christians go away to public universities which hold "secular" or "liberal" views on religion, science, etc. and are "susceptible" to these new-fangled ideas, and many of these young students have not been given the tools to deal with them. (Did that run-on sentence make any sense?)
I for one almost succumbed to these ideas. But I started out attending a Christian university! What happened to me was the "new-fangled ideas" came at me from external places and I became quite disillusioned with the pat answers given to me at the Christian school, which was, to put it simply, a bubble. It seemed to me that the majority of students there existed for themselves, and the prevailing thought was "as long as you've got your theology straight, you're good with God".
What really bothered me about this school was it's location. Marion, Indiana is a very impoverished city. Ever since the big companies there outsourced and left many, many people jobless, the city has gone downhill. And yet, you may drive through the streets of Marion and come across the university and it's like going into another world: pristine, flawless, blatantly expensive, and suddenly, everyone is white, clean-cut and perfectly dressed. It is true culture shock. Alright, maybe I'm exaggerating, but to any random outsider, there is a very good chance they will get this impression upon arrival.
Okay, it may seem like I've gone off-topic, but never fear, I have not. I only say this to make a point: the reason why so many young Christians stray from or leave the faith in their college years is not because their theology or "world view" isn't screwed on right: it is because they have not been taught how to live like Christ.
My home church tried it's best to prepare us for college. They talked and preached, we met for lunch or coffee with our leaders, went on retreats, the whole shebang. But not once did we participate in any acts of service. Everything was focused on how we thought, how we should view God and sin, and our "feelings." And what happened when I entered college? The same thing. Our units in our dorms had warm and fuzzy meetings to discuss our thoughts and feelings and how God is "captivated by our beauty", we had shopping trips and coffee meetings, but never did we discuss or do anything about "the least of these" - in the world, or even in Marion. My impression of Christianity was reigning in my doubts and gluing my eyes and thoughts in the Bible, but once I walked out of my room, I didn't know how to live. I didn't know how to act, or treat people, except to be nice to them. I didn't even know what social justice meant.
Long story short, I transferred from that school in the middle of my sophomore year for a giant of a public school a couple hours away. And as I left that school, I left the faith. I'll spare you the story of the meantime, but what brought me back to Jesus was not theology or a powerful sermon or a song or a Christian book with a clever title, it was becoming involved with a group of genuine Christians (young and in college) who lived and served and acted as Jesus told us to in the inner-city of Indianapolis. I saw authenticity, I saw Jesus' hands and feet, Jesus' love and compassion in action, and I was drawn to it. And as I learned to BE Jesus, I learned also to think as Jesus - commit to study and understand the Bible, and to live a prayerful life. I think this is what young American Christians are lacking - and the American church in general... we have neglected to teach our young to be Jesus, and to saturate our lives with compassion and action for the least of these, and replaced the life he has called us to live with an obsession of getting our theology straight.
I for one almost succumbed to these ideas. But I started out attending a Christian university! What happened to me was the "new-fangled ideas" came at me from external places and I became quite disillusioned with the pat answers given to me at the Christian school, which was, to put it simply, a bubble. It seemed to me that the majority of students there existed for themselves, and the prevailing thought was "as long as you've got your theology straight, you're good with God".
What really bothered me about this school was it's location. Marion, Indiana is a very impoverished city. Ever since the big companies there outsourced and left many, many people jobless, the city has gone downhill. And yet, you may drive through the streets of Marion and come across the university and it's like going into another world: pristine, flawless, blatantly expensive, and suddenly, everyone is white, clean-cut and perfectly dressed. It is true culture shock. Alright, maybe I'm exaggerating, but to any random outsider, there is a very good chance they will get this impression upon arrival.
Okay, it may seem like I've gone off-topic, but never fear, I have not. I only say this to make a point: the reason why so many young Christians stray from or leave the faith in their college years is not because their theology or "world view" isn't screwed on right: it is because they have not been taught how to live like Christ.
My home church tried it's best to prepare us for college. They talked and preached, we met for lunch or coffee with our leaders, went on retreats, the whole shebang. But not once did we participate in any acts of service. Everything was focused on how we thought, how we should view God and sin, and our "feelings." And what happened when I entered college? The same thing. Our units in our dorms had warm and fuzzy meetings to discuss our thoughts and feelings and how God is "captivated by our beauty", we had shopping trips and coffee meetings, but never did we discuss or do anything about "the least of these" - in the world, or even in Marion. My impression of Christianity was reigning in my doubts and gluing my eyes and thoughts in the Bible, but once I walked out of my room, I didn't know how to live. I didn't know how to act, or treat people, except to be nice to them. I didn't even know what social justice meant.
Long story short, I transferred from that school in the middle of my sophomore year for a giant of a public school a couple hours away. And as I left that school, I left the faith. I'll spare you the story of the meantime, but what brought me back to Jesus was not theology or a powerful sermon or a song or a Christian book with a clever title, it was becoming involved with a group of genuine Christians (young and in college) who lived and served and acted as Jesus told us to in the inner-city of Indianapolis. I saw authenticity, I saw Jesus' hands and feet, Jesus' love and compassion in action, and I was drawn to it. And as I learned to BE Jesus, I learned also to think as Jesus - commit to study and understand the Bible, and to live a prayerful life. I think this is what young American Christians are lacking - and the American church in general... we have neglected to teach our young to be Jesus, and to saturate our lives with compassion and action for the least of these, and replaced the life he has called us to live with an obsession of getting our theology straight.
Friday, July 4, 2008
just a tally
22.75 years into my life
11 months into my marriage
6 months into my pregnancy
4 years into college (by way of 3 universities...)
2 jobs
1 car
3 cats
1 puppy
200+ children at my jobs to love
2 weeks till we move into our house
1 1/2 years until I graduate
122 days till Election Day
199 days till Bush's last day
232 years of Empire as of today
38572385732895723859752378 bills to pay
392582395238593295823958329582395823958239583295 thoughts to sift through
Next book to read: Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger by Rob Sider
Last book read: Red Letter Christians by Tony Campolo
Yes, two weeks until we move from our tiny, tiny apartment on the Southside to our new 3-bedroom house on the Near Eastside. We'll have two bathrooms (no having to hold it anymore!), a huge kitchen, a fenced backyard, an office, a dining room, a basement, a garage, a front porch, a walk to work instead of a half-hour drive, a community, (family members as neighbors - not sure if that's good or bad yet...), room for us to spread out and our pets to roam, a place for our books, hardwood floors, stairs in the house instead of to our door, and finally, a ghetto to live in instead of the suburbs. I am excited.
11 months into my marriage
6 months into my pregnancy
4 years into college (by way of 3 universities...)
2 jobs
1 car
3 cats
1 puppy
200+ children at my jobs to love
2 weeks till we move into our house
1 1/2 years until I graduate
122 days till Election Day
199 days till Bush's last day
232 years of Empire as of today
38572385732895723859752378 bills to pay
392582395238593295823958329582395823958239583295 thoughts to sift through
Next book to read: Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger by Rob Sider
Last book read: Red Letter Christians by Tony Campolo
Yes, two weeks until we move from our tiny, tiny apartment on the Southside to our new 3-bedroom house on the Near Eastside. We'll have two bathrooms (no having to hold it anymore!), a huge kitchen, a fenced backyard, an office, a dining room, a basement, a garage, a front porch, a walk to work instead of a half-hour drive, a community, (family members as neighbors - not sure if that's good or bad yet...), room for us to spread out and our pets to roam, a place for our books, hardwood floors, stairs in the house instead of to our door, and finally, a ghetto to live in instead of the suburbs. I am excited.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Dobson and Obama: Who is 'Deliberately Distorting'?
From Sojourner's magazine:
Dobson and Obama: Who is 'Deliberately Distorting'?
by Jim Wallis
James Dobson, of Focus on the Family Action, and his senior vice president of government and public policy, Tom Minnery, used their "Focus on the Family" radio show Tuesday to criticize Barack Obama's understanding of Christian faith. In the show, they describe Obama as "deliberately distorting the Bible," "dragging biblical understanding through the gutter," "willfully trying to confuse people," and having a "fruitcake interpretation of the Constitution."
The clear purpose of the show was to attack Barack Obama. On the show, Dobson says of himself, "I'm not a reverend. I'm not a minister. I'm not a theologian. I'm not an evangelist. I'm a psychologist. I have a Ph.D. in child development." Child psychologists don't insert themselves into partisan politics in the regular way that James Dobson does and has over many years as one of the premier leaders of the Religious Right. He has spoken about how often he talked to Republican leaders -- Karl Rove, administration strategists, and even President Bush himself. This year he tried to influence the outcome of the Republican primary by saying he would never vote for John McCain or the Republicans if they nominated him, then reversed himself and said he would vote after all but didn't say for whom. But why should America care about how a child psychologist votes?
James Dobson is insinuating himself into this presidential campaign, and his attacks against his fellow Christian, Barack Obama, should be seriously scrutinized. And because the basis for his attack on Obama is the speech the Illinois senator gave at our Sojourners/Call to Renewal event in 2006 (for the record, we also had Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republicans Rick Santorum and Sam Brownback speak that year), I have decided to respond to Dobson's attacks. In most every case they are themselves clear distortions of what Obama said in that speech. I was there for the speech; Dobson was not.
I haven't endorsed a candidate, but I do defend them when they are attacked in disingenuous ways, and this is one of those cases. You can read Obama's two-year-old speech, [audio link] which was widely publicized at the time, and you can see that Dobson either didn't understand it or is deliberately distorting it. There are two major problems with Dobson's attack on Obama.
First, Dobson and Minnery's language is simply inappropriate for religious leaders to use in an already divisive political campaign. We can agree or disagree on both biblical and political viewpoints, but our language should be respectful and civil, not attacking motives and beliefs.
Second, and perhaps most important, is the role of religion in politics. Dobson alleges that Obama is saying:
I [Dobson] can't seek to pass legislation, for example, that bans partial-birth abortion because there are people in the culture who don't see that as a moral issue. And if I can't get everyone to agree with me, it is undemocratic to try to pass legislation that I find offensive to the Scripture. ... What he's trying to say here is unless everybody agrees, we have no right to fight for what we believe.
Contrary to Dobson's charge, Obama strongly defended the right and necessity of people of faith in bringing their moral agenda to the public square, and he was specifically critical of many on the left and in his own Democratic Party for being uncomfortable with religion in politics.
Obama said that religion is and always has been a fundamental and absolutely essential source of morality for the nation, but he also said that "religion has no monopoly on morality," which is a point I often make. The United States is not the Christian theocracy that people like James Dobson seem to think it should be. Political appeals, even if rooted in religious convictions, must be argued on moral grounds rather than as sectarian religious demands -- so that the people (citizens), whether religious or not, may have the capacity to hear and respond. Religious convictions must be translated into moral arguments, which must win the political debate if they are to be implemented. Religious people don't get to win just because they are religious. They, like any other citizens, have to convince their fellow citizens that what they propose is best for the common good -- for all of us, not just for the religious.
Instead of saying that Christians must accept "the lowest common denominator of morality," as Dobson accused Obama of suggesting, or that people of faith shouldn't advocate for the things their convictions suggest, Obama was saying the exact opposite -- that Christians should offer their best moral compass to the nation but then engage in the kind of democratic dialogue that religious pluralism demands. Martin Luther King Jr. perhaps did this best, with his Bible in one hand and the Constitution in the other.
One more note. I personally disagree with how both the Democrats and Republicans have treated the moral issue of abortion and am hopeful that the movement toward a serious commitment for dramatic abortion reduction will re-shape both parties' language and positions. But that is the only "bloody notion" that Dobson mentions. What about the horrible bloody war in Iraq that Dobson apparently supports, or the 30,000 children who die each day globally of poverty and disease that Dobson never mentions, or the genocides in Darfur and other places? In making abortion the single life issue in politics and elections, leaders from the Religious Right like Dobson have violated the "consistent ethic of life" that we find, for example, in Catholic social teaching.
Dobson has also fought unsuccessfully to keep the issue of the environment and climate change, which many also now regard as a "life issue," off the evangelical agenda. Older Religious Right leaders are now being passed by a new generation of young evangelicals who believe that poverty, "creation care" of the environment, human trafficking, human rights, pandemic diseases such as HIV/AIDS, and the fundamental issues of war and peace are also "religious" and "moral" issues and now a part of a much wider and deeper agenda. That new evangelical agenda is a deep threat to Dobson and the power wielded by the Religious Right for so long. It puts many evangelical votes in play this election year, especially among a new generation who are no longer captive to the Religious Right. Perhaps that is the real reason for Dobson's attack on Barack Obama.
Dobson and Obama: Who is 'Deliberately Distorting'?
by Jim Wallis
James Dobson, of Focus on the Family Action, and his senior vice president of government and public policy, Tom Minnery, used their "Focus on the Family" radio show Tuesday to criticize Barack Obama's understanding of Christian faith. In the show, they describe Obama as "deliberately distorting the Bible," "dragging biblical understanding through the gutter," "willfully trying to confuse people," and having a "fruitcake interpretation of the Constitution."
The clear purpose of the show was to attack Barack Obama. On the show, Dobson says of himself, "I'm not a reverend. I'm not a minister. I'm not a theologian. I'm not an evangelist. I'm a psychologist. I have a Ph.D. in child development." Child psychologists don't insert themselves into partisan politics in the regular way that James Dobson does and has over many years as one of the premier leaders of the Religious Right. He has spoken about how often he talked to Republican leaders -- Karl Rove, administration strategists, and even President Bush himself. This year he tried to influence the outcome of the Republican primary by saying he would never vote for John McCain or the Republicans if they nominated him, then reversed himself and said he would vote after all but didn't say for whom. But why should America care about how a child psychologist votes?
James Dobson is insinuating himself into this presidential campaign, and his attacks against his fellow Christian, Barack Obama, should be seriously scrutinized. And because the basis for his attack on Obama is the speech the Illinois senator gave at our Sojourners/Call to Renewal event in 2006 (for the record, we also had Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republicans Rick Santorum and Sam Brownback speak that year), I have decided to respond to Dobson's attacks. In most every case they are themselves clear distortions of what Obama said in that speech. I was there for the speech; Dobson was not.
I haven't endorsed a candidate, but I do defend them when they are attacked in disingenuous ways, and this is one of those cases. You can read Obama's two-year-old speech, [audio link] which was widely publicized at the time, and you can see that Dobson either didn't understand it or is deliberately distorting it. There are two major problems with Dobson's attack on Obama.
First, Dobson and Minnery's language is simply inappropriate for religious leaders to use in an already divisive political campaign. We can agree or disagree on both biblical and political viewpoints, but our language should be respectful and civil, not attacking motives and beliefs.
Second, and perhaps most important, is the role of religion in politics. Dobson alleges that Obama is saying:
I [Dobson] can't seek to pass legislation, for example, that bans partial-birth abortion because there are people in the culture who don't see that as a moral issue. And if I can't get everyone to agree with me, it is undemocratic to try to pass legislation that I find offensive to the Scripture. ... What he's trying to say here is unless everybody agrees, we have no right to fight for what we believe.
Contrary to Dobson's charge, Obama strongly defended the right and necessity of people of faith in bringing their moral agenda to the public square, and he was specifically critical of many on the left and in his own Democratic Party for being uncomfortable with religion in politics.
Obama said that religion is and always has been a fundamental and absolutely essential source of morality for the nation, but he also said that "religion has no monopoly on morality," which is a point I often make. The United States is not the Christian theocracy that people like James Dobson seem to think it should be. Political appeals, even if rooted in religious convictions, must be argued on moral grounds rather than as sectarian religious demands -- so that the people (citizens), whether religious or not, may have the capacity to hear and respond. Religious convictions must be translated into moral arguments, which must win the political debate if they are to be implemented. Religious people don't get to win just because they are religious. They, like any other citizens, have to convince their fellow citizens that what they propose is best for the common good -- for all of us, not just for the religious.
Instead of saying that Christians must accept "the lowest common denominator of morality," as Dobson accused Obama of suggesting, or that people of faith shouldn't advocate for the things their convictions suggest, Obama was saying the exact opposite -- that Christians should offer their best moral compass to the nation but then engage in the kind of democratic dialogue that religious pluralism demands. Martin Luther King Jr. perhaps did this best, with his Bible in one hand and the Constitution in the other.
One more note. I personally disagree with how both the Democrats and Republicans have treated the moral issue of abortion and am hopeful that the movement toward a serious commitment for dramatic abortion reduction will re-shape both parties' language and positions. But that is the only "bloody notion" that Dobson mentions. What about the horrible bloody war in Iraq that Dobson apparently supports, or the 30,000 children who die each day globally of poverty and disease that Dobson never mentions, or the genocides in Darfur and other places? In making abortion the single life issue in politics and elections, leaders from the Religious Right like Dobson have violated the "consistent ethic of life" that we find, for example, in Catholic social teaching.
Dobson has also fought unsuccessfully to keep the issue of the environment and climate change, which many also now regard as a "life issue," off the evangelical agenda. Older Religious Right leaders are now being passed by a new generation of young evangelicals who believe that poverty, "creation care" of the environment, human trafficking, human rights, pandemic diseases such as HIV/AIDS, and the fundamental issues of war and peace are also "religious" and "moral" issues and now a part of a much wider and deeper agenda. That new evangelical agenda is a deep threat to Dobson and the power wielded by the Religious Right for so long. It puts many evangelical votes in play this election year, especially among a new generation who are no longer captive to the Religious Right. Perhaps that is the real reason for Dobson's attack on Barack Obama.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Road to Peace
Young Abdel Mahdi (Shahmay) was only 18 years old,
He was the youngest of nine children, never spent a night away from home.
And his mother held his photograph, opening the New York Times
To see the killing has intensified along the road to peace
There was a tall, thin boy with a whispy moustache disguised as an orthodox Jew
On a crowded bus in Jerusalem, some had survived World War Two
And the thunderous explosion blew out windows 200 yards away
With more retribution and seventeen dead along the road to peace
Now at King George Ave and Jaffa Road passengers boarded bus 14a
In the aisle next to the driver Abdel Mahdi (Shahmay)
And the last thing that he said on earth is "God is great and God is good"
And he blew them all to kingdom come upon the road to peace
Now in response to this another kiss of death was visited upon
Yasser Taha, Israel says is an Hamas senior militant
And Israel sent four choppers in, flames engulfed, tears wide open
And it killed his wife and his three year old child leaving only blackened skeletons
It's found his toddlers bottle and a pair of small shoes and they waved them in front of the cameras
But Israel says they did not know that his wife and child were in the car
There are roadblocks everywhere and only suffering on TV
Neither side will ever give up their smallest right along the road to peace
Israel launched it's latest campaign against Hamas on Tuesday
Two days later Hamas shot back and killed five Israeli soldiers
So thousands dead and wounded on both sides most of them middle eastern civilians
They fill the children full of hate to fight an old man's war and die upon the road to peace
"And this is our land we will fight with all our force" say the Palastinians and the Jews
Each side will cut off the hand of anyone who tries to stop the resistance
If the right eye offends thee then you must pluck it out
And Mahmoud Abbas said Sharon had been lost out along the road to peace
Once Kissinger said "we have no friends, America only has interests"
Now our president wants to be seen as a hero and he's hungry for re-election
But Bush is reluctant to risk his future in the fear of his political failures
So he plays chess at his desk and poses for the press 10,000 miles from the road to peace
In the video that they found at the home of Abdel Mahdi (Shahmay)
He held a Kalashnikov rifle and he spoke with a voice like a boy
He was an excellent student, he studied so hard, it was as if he had a future
He told his mother that he had a test that day out along the road to peace
The fundamentalist killing on both sides is standing in the path of peace
But tell me why are we arming the Israeli army with guns and tanks and bullets?
And if God is great and God is good why can't he change the hearts of men?
Well maybe God himself is lost and needs help
Maybe God himself he needs all of our help
Maybe God himself is lost and needs help
He's out upon the road to peace
Well maybe God himself is lost and needs help
Maybe God himself he needs all of our help
And he's lost upon the road to peace
And he's lost upon the road to peace
Out upon the road to peace.
- Tom Waits
He was the youngest of nine children, never spent a night away from home.
And his mother held his photograph, opening the New York Times
To see the killing has intensified along the road to peace
There was a tall, thin boy with a whispy moustache disguised as an orthodox Jew
On a crowded bus in Jerusalem, some had survived World War Two
And the thunderous explosion blew out windows 200 yards away
With more retribution and seventeen dead along the road to peace
Now at King George Ave and Jaffa Road passengers boarded bus 14a
In the aisle next to the driver Abdel Mahdi (Shahmay)
And the last thing that he said on earth is "God is great and God is good"
And he blew them all to kingdom come upon the road to peace
Now in response to this another kiss of death was visited upon
Yasser Taha, Israel says is an Hamas senior militant
And Israel sent four choppers in, flames engulfed, tears wide open
And it killed his wife and his three year old child leaving only blackened skeletons
It's found his toddlers bottle and a pair of small shoes and they waved them in front of the cameras
But Israel says they did not know that his wife and child were in the car
There are roadblocks everywhere and only suffering on TV
Neither side will ever give up their smallest right along the road to peace
Israel launched it's latest campaign against Hamas on Tuesday
Two days later Hamas shot back and killed five Israeli soldiers
So thousands dead and wounded on both sides most of them middle eastern civilians
They fill the children full of hate to fight an old man's war and die upon the road to peace
"And this is our land we will fight with all our force" say the Palastinians and the Jews
Each side will cut off the hand of anyone who tries to stop the resistance
If the right eye offends thee then you must pluck it out
And Mahmoud Abbas said Sharon had been lost out along the road to peace
Once Kissinger said "we have no friends, America only has interests"
Now our president wants to be seen as a hero and he's hungry for re-election
But Bush is reluctant to risk his future in the fear of his political failures
So he plays chess at his desk and poses for the press 10,000 miles from the road to peace
In the video that they found at the home of Abdel Mahdi (Shahmay)
He held a Kalashnikov rifle and he spoke with a voice like a boy
He was an excellent student, he studied so hard, it was as if he had a future
He told his mother that he had a test that day out along the road to peace
The fundamentalist killing on both sides is standing in the path of peace
But tell me why are we arming the Israeli army with guns and tanks and bullets?
And if God is great and God is good why can't he change the hearts of men?
Well maybe God himself is lost and needs help
Maybe God himself he needs all of our help
Maybe God himself is lost and needs help
He's out upon the road to peace
Well maybe God himself is lost and needs help
Maybe God himself he needs all of our help
And he's lost upon the road to peace
And he's lost upon the road to peace
Out upon the road to peace.
- Tom Waits
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Anthem
A nation stands with heart in hand
To sing their anthem proudly
Voices raised to sing their praise
Of their hollow country
All this talk of freedom
And some talk of liberty
From your plastic podium
You try and convince me
I can't fall anymore
For some silver-tongued song
Your freedom isn't free
So let me say what freedom means to
I can't see red, white, and blue waving in the air
I don't hear the bombs bursting and I don't even care
I'm sorry for my lack of faith
I'm not the greatest patriot
If this is all there is to freedom I don't want it
I can't fall anymore
For some silver-tongued song
Your freedom isn't free
So let me say what freedom means to
Pushing us a drug that you call freedom and democracy
Promise us that selfishness is the means for happiness
I burned that bridge so long ago that I can hardly see
Anything but solace in what freedom means to me
I can't fall anymore
For some silver-tongued song
Freedom isn't free
So let me say what freedom means to
It cannot mean to serve ourselves
That doesn't mean a thing
It doesn't mean to give the license
To seek ourselves in anything
That would be slavery to ourselves it isn't free
Jesus Christ, the only thing that freedom means to me
- Five Iron Frenzy
To sing their anthem proudly
Voices raised to sing their praise
Of their hollow country
All this talk of freedom
And some talk of liberty
From your plastic podium
You try and convince me
I can't fall anymore
For some silver-tongued song
Your freedom isn't free
So let me say what freedom means to
I can't see red, white, and blue waving in the air
I don't hear the bombs bursting and I don't even care
I'm sorry for my lack of faith
I'm not the greatest patriot
If this is all there is to freedom I don't want it
I can't fall anymore
For some silver-tongued song
Your freedom isn't free
So let me say what freedom means to
Pushing us a drug that you call freedom and democracy
Promise us that selfishness is the means for happiness
I burned that bridge so long ago that I can hardly see
Anything but solace in what freedom means to me
I can't fall anymore
For some silver-tongued song
Freedom isn't free
So let me say what freedom means to
It cannot mean to serve ourselves
That doesn't mean a thing
It doesn't mean to give the license
To seek ourselves in anything
That would be slavery to ourselves it isn't free
Jesus Christ, the only thing that freedom means to me
- Five Iron Frenzy
Thursday, May 1, 2008
lost the plot
When you come back again
would you bring me something from the fridge?
Heard a rumour that the end is near
but I just got comfortable here.
sigh.
Let's be blunt.
I'm a little distracted.
What do you want?
Headaches and bad faith
are all that I've got.
First I misplaced the ending
then I lost the plot.
Out among the free-range sheep
while the big birds sharpen their claws.
For a time we stuck with the shepherd
but you wouldn't play Santa Claus.
sigh.
Let's be blunt.
We're a little distracted.
What do you want?
Once we could follow,
now we cannot.
You would not fit our image,
so we lost the plot.
Once we could hear you,
now our senses are shot.
We've forgotten our first love.
We have lost the plot.
When I saw you for the first time
you were hanging with a thief
And I knew my hands were dirty,
and I dropped my gaze.
Then you said I was forgiven
and you welcomed me with laughter.
I was happy ever after.
I was counting the days
when you'd come back again.
we'll be waiting for you
When you comin' back again?
we'll be ready for you
Maybe we'll wake up when...
maybe we'll wake up when
you come back again.
lies.
Let's be blunt.
We're a little unfaithful.
What do you want?
Are you still listening?
`Cause we're obviously not
We've forgotten our first love
We have lost the plot.
And why are you still calling?
You forgave, we forgot.
We're such experts at stalling
that we've lost the plot.
lost the plot
When you come back again
would you bring me something from the fridge?
Heard a rumour that the end is near
but I just got comfortable here.
- Newsboys
would you bring me something from the fridge?
Heard a rumour that the end is near
but I just got comfortable here.
sigh.
Let's be blunt.
I'm a little distracted.
What do you want?
Headaches and bad faith
are all that I've got.
First I misplaced the ending
then I lost the plot.
Out among the free-range sheep
while the big birds sharpen their claws.
For a time we stuck with the shepherd
but you wouldn't play Santa Claus.
sigh.
Let's be blunt.
We're a little distracted.
What do you want?
Once we could follow,
now we cannot.
You would not fit our image,
so we lost the plot.
Once we could hear you,
now our senses are shot.
We've forgotten our first love.
We have lost the plot.
When I saw you for the first time
you were hanging with a thief
And I knew my hands were dirty,
and I dropped my gaze.
Then you said I was forgiven
and you welcomed me with laughter.
I was happy ever after.
I was counting the days
when you'd come back again.
we'll be waiting for you
When you comin' back again?
we'll be ready for you
Maybe we'll wake up when...
maybe we'll wake up when
you come back again.
lies.
Let's be blunt.
We're a little unfaithful.
What do you want?
Are you still listening?
`Cause we're obviously not
We've forgotten our first love
We have lost the plot.
And why are you still calling?
You forgave, we forgot.
We're such experts at stalling
that we've lost the plot.
lost the plot
When you come back again
would you bring me something from the fridge?
Heard a rumour that the end is near
but I just got comfortable here.
- Newsboys
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