The Soul of Liberty

 Liberty and Justice for All is not something that just happens.

        As compatriots with liberation and deliverance, liberty and justice emerge triumphant from the very embattlements of human history. Where their zealous advocates manage to grab some foothold in the landscape of human struggle, freedom is fleeting not far behind. Noble aspirations are all summoned up when the careless slayings of men demand value more sacred, more holy, than the mere clashing of weapons and the expiration of breathing bodies.

        In our present American epoch, the bad news is: there is an inevitable outflow—the shedding of blood—which bleeds out when rebellion escalates to ever higher levels of violence and death.

        The good news is: where there’s shedding of blood, Soul is not far beneath. We forgive and persevere, and our Soul will be rejuvenated; our American body politic will recover. We will rally and strengthen those appropriate things that remain.

    Our collective Soul of American Liberty is this:  the principle that we can live, work and thrive together without tearing each other apart, and that our Rule of Law, when put to proper use, will give us the wherewithal to resolve and to work out our differences.

        Here's the deal.  As long as life-blood flows through our inherited arteries of Law,  Democracy and Governance, our collective American Soul can thrive and survive. When, however, those arteries are traumatically severed by acts of aggression, violence and rebellion, we bleed.

    If we bleed out, we die. If we arrest the bleeding, we recover and move forward to live and prosper as a Nation and as individual Citizens.

    Today, election day 2020, let us collectively resolve to recover. . . to revive and replenish our blood as it circulates nutrients of Liberty and Justice through the body politic.

    And so. . . we shall  recover, and we shall overcome. We then repair and resume our 246 years of blood-borne Liberty and Justice for All. 

Selah.

King of Soul. (See chapter 5.)

Deep South stuff

 I was born and raised in the Deep South, and have lived to tell about it.

And tell about it. . . I did, in my 2017 novel, King of Soul.

In 1963, Medgar Evers was shot dead in his own front yard by a white supremecist. 

My novelic story in King of Soul describes events that might have happened the next day.

Here is one scene in which a housemaid, Aleen, is sitting at a dining room table where she is usually the server; but on this particular day, the lady of the house has chosen to serve her: 

        Cora Jean . . . stood up. “Excuse me. I’ll be right back. Please keep your seat, Aleen.”

       Then it was Aleen and Donnie sitting at the dining table. Donnie felt a little funny about it; this had never happened before. In the evenings, the table was usually stocked with supper, most of which Aleen had cooked, before she went home to cook for her own family. Donnie’s sister, Nancy, walked in the room. She’s nine. 

       “Where’s mama?” she said. She was looking at Aleen with curiosity.

       “In the kitchen,” Donnie replied. “Go see her.”

       “No.”

       “Go ask her if we can have some sweet potato pie.”

       “No. It’s too close to dinner for pie,” objected Nancy.

       “No, it’s not. Go ask her.”

       “You go ask her.”

       “Aw, shucks, Nancy, go sit on the couch. Me and Aleen are talkin’.”

       “Talkin’ about what? I can talk too.”

       “Grown-up stuff.”

       “You’re not a grownup,” charged Nancy, sticking her lower lip out.

       Now that was true. Sally was a little smarter than Donnie thought. She had not always been, though.

       Nancy walked halfway around the table, next to Aleen. “Are you gonna cook some dinner for us, Aleen?” she asked, meekly. Her brown eyes were wide open with anticipation. 

       Aleen just smiled at her, and stroked the stray bangs from the girl’s forehead. 

       “Aw, Nancy, mama’s makin’ dinner,” Donnie declared. “ Today’s different. Can’t you see that?”

       “Oh yeah, smarty pants! What’s different about it?” she persisted.

       Now Donnie was stumped. Something was indeed different about today, but he didn’t know what, except he knew that some important colored man had been shot and Aleen’s daughter had been arrested. 

       His sister was involved now, and she liked it that way. She looked at Donnie, challenging him with her eyes. “Aleen’s sittin’ at the table. That’s what’s different!”

       Donnie could not argue with that. It’s a fact.  

Fast forward: Last night, I was watching a 1990 movie, The Long Walk Home, on Amazon.The story there depicts events surrounding the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955-56. There was a turning point moment in the video that echoed my novel scene above. So I snapped it: 

King of Soul

Portrait of a Lady

 Back in 1977, I wrote a song about Autumn.

The scene described therein is focused upon a woman who, while watching autumn leaves fall, is drawn into an old memory of love.

Soon thereafter, I was able to record the song in my

  Something for Everyone  vinyl LP album.

Perhaps you would enjoy listening to the wistful tune:

 Portrait of a Lady

King of Soul

Charles the Last?

 A tizzy of speculation has been spun up about the state of the British Monarchy, now that Queen Elizabeth, whom everyone loved, is gone and Charles steps into the role of King.

The big buzz is whether Monarchy is even relevant and/or useful in this 21st century. 

Recently, while reading blogs and comments on UnHerd, I saw one comment referring to the new monarch as “Charles the Last.”

’T’was just over a century ago—1914— that the entire continent of Europe was cast into War, as a consequence of the assassination of one Royal, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria.

When at last the dust settled in 1918 as war yielded to Armistice and Peace, the question of Royal relevance was a hot issue, and has been on the back burner ever since.

Several years ago, we visited the Schonbrunn palace in Austria, palace of the Hapsburgs. While there, I snapped this picture; it is the room in which Emperor Karl the Last, in 1918, signed away the Hapsburg empire, although he “would not abdicate,” whatever that means.

 Are Kings and Queens even useful for anything any more?

Now the Brits have Charles III and speculation arises about just how relevant his role will be. 

My curiosity about the issue was kindled ten years ago when I acquired an original edition of the Times of London Coronation Issue, commemorating the Coronation of Charles’ grandfather, George VI, on May 12, 1937.

Looking back into European history, there are Charleses all over the place.

The original monarch was Charles the Great, which is an anglicized way of pronouncing the French nomen, Charlemagne. His notable accomplishment was an 8th-century AD manifestation of reviving the Roman empire, after its long, 400+ years of slumber after the Huns had plundered ancient Rome during earlier centuries.

 Prior to acceding to that expansive title, Charlemagne had reigned over the Carolingian dynasty, an 8th-century royal development that arose among the Franks, or early French people.

During the next thousand years there were several European Charleses.

Most notably, in the 1500’s, along came Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, which royal role included multiple honors such as Archduke of Austria, King of Spain, Lord of the Netherlands, Duke of Burgundy and first head of the House of Hapsburg, in Austria.

Much later, in 1918, came Karl (German for Charles), the last emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, last emperor of the Hapsburg dynasty, which reigned over Austria, Hungary and several other nations of the Hapsburg dynasty. More about Karl, later.

As for England, Henry VIII’s disputes in 1500’s with continental Europe and the Catholics had forced a permanent separation. By the 1600’s, the independently-minded Brits had their own homegrown royals and priests. But their contentious habits precipitated a Civil War (1642-51), during which King Charles I was beheaded, in 1649, by the Parliament and the rebellious Protestants therein. 

But, not to worry, the monarchy of the Brits was restored when his son, Charles II was crowned in 1660, after the Brits had figured out a way to get along with each other. 

All was well until the Americans stirred up a hornets nest of rebellion in 1776.

But we Yanks made up for our rebellious ways when we helped the Brits and Allies during World Wars I and II. But I digress.

So now, in 2022, along comes Charles III, son of the longest-reigning monarch of all time, Elizabeth II. 

And the big question in British minds is just how relevant and/or useful can a King be in this 21st century.

Time will tell . . . what Charles III will able to contribute to the welfare and strength of the British people, and how his choices will set the course for his progeny. 

Meanwhile, while watching a movie

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRxsLwqx4VM&t=2737s

 about Karl, last Emperor of the Hapsburgs, I saw this:  

The face in this frame is an actor’s. Here’s a pic of the real Karl the Last of Austria-Hungary.

As for Charles III of Britain and his acceptance by the British people, Will he be Charles the Last (monarch)? Time will tell.

All we can say is: God save the King!

Smoke

A Statesman Stumps Against trumpism

 A  former President went down to Georgia and he was looking for some voters to heal.

He talked common sense and faith to them folks down in the deep south, ( where I grew up . . . three states over, in Louisiana)

Watch and listen:  Statesman Obama

Here are few of the words he spoke to them:

“My favorite President was a guy named Abe Lincoln. He helped found the Republican party.

It used to be that there were GOP members who championed progress and civil rights and rule of law, even when some Democrats, especially down here in the South, did not.

That’s part of our history.

So it has not always been one party or another. But these days, right now, just about every Republican politician seems obsessed with two things: owning the libs, and getting Donald Trump’s approval.

. . . But that’s their agenda. It’s not long; it’s not complicated, and, at least, to me, its not very inspiring.

They’re not interested in actually solving problems. They’re interested in making you angry and finding somebody to blame, because that way, you may not notice that they’ve got no answers of their own.

I can tell you what Stacey Abrams is obsessed with. As a small business owner, and the daughter of two ministers, she’s focused on making sure every Georgian has an opportunity to get ahead. That’s why she wants to invest Georgia’s surplus in the fundamentals: good schools, a higher standard of living, more affordable health care and housing. That’s her agenda.

I can tell you whatRaphaelWarnock cares about. As your senator, he hasn’t been off chasing wacky conspiracy theories. He hasn’t been drumming up fear and division. He’s been working to lower prescription drug costs, and boost manufacturing jobs and expand health care for veterans, who got sick fighting for the United States of America. That’s who Rev. Warnock is; that’s his agenda.

. . . They are both hard-working, God-fearing, community-serving people, who tell the truth and stick to their word. . . treat everybody with decency and respect.

Hearing Barack Obama reminds me of the good old days when leaders actually worked to get things done in the halls of government, before our politics went all to trumpian hell.

On January 6, 2021, those hallowed halls,  where governance takes place, were, under the influence of the trumpian tyranny, trashed and thrashed. 

But now it is time to, as Christ instructed John the Revelator in Rev. 3:2, "strengthen the things that remain." If you're not familiar with that biblical reference, go find the Senator from Georgia,  Rev. Raphael Warnock, and ask him about it.

Glass half-Full

A Day in the Strife

 I have been struggling with this new song. Borrowing the Lennon tune from Sgt. Pepper's Day in the Life, I composed a message to our nation, to our people and to the world, describing and lamenting what happened to our Capitol, our Representatives and Senators, and to our very Nation on January 6, 2021. 

Here's the written message: 

I heard the news about Old Glory

Fifty stars dragged down into the mire

A crowd of rebels in our Capitol

They cast our Congress to oblivion

I saw the video.

 

They blew their mind out in a riot

They wouldn’t notice that the nation changed.

A crowd of people watched online.

They’d seen that dread spirit long before, in 1864.

Nobody was really sure of what was happening.

 

Our nation’s  soul was up for grabs.

The joker brandishing his tyranny

Casting spells of spoken alchemy

Tossing tales of woken enmity.

 

He’d spouted words stand back stand by

They stormed the Dome with rebel cry.

They trashed and dashed our hallowed hall

They wouldn’t read the writing on the wall

 

He blew their minds out with a lie

They raised the zombie rebel cry

A freaked-out nation sat and stared

They’d seen that face before, back in 1864.

Nobody was really sure what the hell was happening.

His curse was marching on.

You can listen to my current version here: 

A Day in the Strife

Glass half-Full

Window Gazing

Raising your vision

to survey the ascent of man,

the blocked-up struct

of human accomplishment,

would you look to the Left ?

Notice that bird of paradise

perching, gazing expectantly

into some ancient 

Tree of Knowledge?

. . . Searching for the answer,

maybe some 

Edenic narrative

to inspire and instruct mankind . . .

or conversely, 

some Hegelian dialect

to direct us toward 

proletariat  paradise?

 

Or would you shift your attention

to the other side, the Right side

of that shuttered-up bay . . .

we notice human endeavor,

 catching sight of that

catty predator who lurks

to pounce upon us

to take control of us

by catnip pharmakia, or

aphrodesiac spell, or

if push comes to shove,

brutal raw violent power?!

. . . 

Either way you look at it 

will you descend into the darkness of 

merely human wishful thinking?

toward indeterminable destiny,

the luck of the draw or,

To recall an old song:

Clowns to the left of me,

Jokers to the right, here  I am

stuck in the middle with you.

But but but. . .  is that all there is?!

in the nether regions of the deep

in the dark boarded-up thanatos of

human endeavor we

find, ‘zounds!, the worst fate of all:

to be shuttered,

boarded up, abandoned

in the lower regions of the world

never again to be noticed

by the citizens of this world,

passersby. Damn!

Wait a minute. I remember someth . .

might be a time to

look up!

Selah!

Behold! 

I show you a mystery.

We shall not all sleep,

but we shall all be changed, 

in a moment, in the twinkling

of an eye. . . 

It could happen: a better world

up there somewhere.

Believe or Not!

Glass half-Full