Tomorrow I start my bike ride. Tomorrow I start pedaling those revolutions for the 27 million slaves. Tomorrow I will start blogging about things more directly related to the ride: my reflections, what happens during the day, and stories and articles from Polaris Project. So for now, here is one last post using Project 86. These lyrics are from their song, "The Spy Hunter," off the album Songs to Burn Your Bridges By.
"One last disguise
Pawns standing in awe of the game
Of the stage
You've worked so hard at building an empire
Of secret rooms to display yourself
And add to your wealth
The sting of.
Oh, it stings
When I saw it all come crashing
I witnessed the sound of a million voices
Screaming for a public hanging
So hide yourself, hide, hide yourself for now. (2x)
We caught you plotting murder
And now the Tide is Turning
We'll light our souls, heal our bones
Upon your empire burning (2x)
When the world is a target for humanity's market
And all of it's sold for a dime
I've seen the towers of gods
And the power of men
In disguises of the worst kind
I am the words on the page
I am the death among life today
I am the voice of one among the silent
Who's tired of burning among the flames
So hide yourself, hide, hide yourself for now. (2x)
We caught you plotting murder
And now the Tide is Turning
We'll light our souls, heal our bones
Upon your empire burning (2x)
I do not need anymore truthless heroes (3x)
We don't need no truthless heroes
So hide yourself, hide, hide yourself for now. (2x)
We caught you plotting murder
And now the Tide is Turning
We'll light our souls, heal our bones
Upon your empire burning (2x)
I need truth"
We don't need no truthless heroes, I need truth. What a relevant thing to say considering that slaves are so often tricked into their servitude by promises of grandeur and hope. Once someone is tricked, how are they ever supposed to know who is telling them the truth? How are they ever supposed to trust again, even someone who is genuinely intent on helping them?
Here's the problem I see: we convince ourselves that to be successful in the business world, or any world for that matter. I don't mean to bash my parents, I love them very much and greatly respect their advice, but growing up I'd often hear that sometimes the only way to attain the success that I deserve is to step on the toes of others. And I was planning on being a teacher. I have no doubt that they are correct, though. We have entered into a system where one must lie, steal, cheat, and/or push other people around to get anywhere in life. Maybe you can see where I'm going with this--as long as we continue to enter into that system we validate it. So we are also validating the worst manifestations of that system: tricking people into slavery to make money or, in the case of domestic slavery especially, just to feel good about ourselves.
You and I have the power to destroy that system. This song is about a witness to the truth confronting the powers of evil and injustice, the Devil, or whatever you want to call it. When we see the truth for the first time we realize that all along we have been pawns in the game and injustice has disguised itself in so many different forms. We can either sit back and let it all continue to unfold or we can say to injustice, "You better run into some serious hiding because we're coming for you."
We have caught injustice/evil plotting murder, and we can stand up to be the voice of the oppressed silent screaming for a public hanging of all the unjust powers in this world. We can be the words of the Bible lived out in a radical way, we can proclaim death to the so-called life of this world. Join hands with your church, your family, your friends, your neighbors, and scream to the world, "No, I don't need you, I need truth, and there are 27 million slaves in the world today who desperately need truth. I am their voice, and I will not stand for this anymore."
All around you the powers of men, slavery, is disguised in different ways. Call the National Human Trafficking Hotline (the number is at the top of this website), learn how to recognize slavery. It's time to stand up. It's time to see the world as it really is. It's time to say, No. It's time to be the voice I'm sure you've always wanted to be, the voice for the voiceless.
Showing posts with label Project 86. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Project 86. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Sad Machines
As I write these Project 86 posts, I am reminded of just how powerful their music and lyrics are. While you read the lyrics to this song, perhaps you might start to realize how amazing I've been at choosing songs, because each song's lyrics have perfectly transitioned into the next (I am, indeed, very humble). So here are the lyrics to the Project 86 song, "Sad Machines," from their album Drawing Black Lines.
"An ageless question, universal
They're asking why
Creation destined cries flood the night in pain
They say if You are real then take it away
But man will only look to You lying on his face
Now we lie awake
With shut eyes
So to forever forget this
Their cries, this agony, injustices, suffering
Symptoms of a larger disease
Inside of me and you and me
So try to close your eyes and make it fade away
But open and you'll see
This stain is you, this stain is me
Now so many wonder why it is
So much has gone awry in all of this
And being makes you sigh that you exist
But you can't escape this
Seemingly undeserved is your lot
But generations past and you forgot
We chose to eat our fill and fell to not
This pain is here reminding us to turn and leave
To come back home
Pointing to show us the way"
Whenever I listen to this song my only reaction is, "Wow." It's not often that a Christian band, or a Christian in general, acknowledges the pain and struggle wrapped up in the question of suffering in this world. Suffering exists and it often seems like Christians don't acknowledge it or simply aren't aware. We Christians are often guilty of making life with God seem happy-go-lucky and nothing can go wrong. All the while the truth is that God's Creation cries out in pain. And what a strange thing: the world that God has supposedly created agonizes day in and day out. Logically, then, God doesn't exist... unless we are lying on our face and we have no way to turn except to prayer.
This is our sad fate. We struggle in pain until we can struggle no longer and then we turn to God out of desperation. But the title of the song is so appropriate. We've turned ourselves into sad machines. As long as we are eating our fill of the symptoms of a larger disease we are nothing but machines of this world that we humans have created, and it is a world of great suffering because we become the stain of the world. We sad machines are the stain of the world.
We wonder why there is so much suffering in the world, we wonder why there are 27 million slaves in the world today. How could God let that happen? How could people be so evil as to create such a large underground slave system? How could our government and other governments allow such a thing? The truth is that you and I are the reason. You and I feel the pain but we also create the pain, our own pain and the insufferable pain of others. Part of our sad machine existence is the refusal to admit the part that we play and instead sit around complaining about the role others have played. It's always someone else's fault that so much pain exists, so much slavery exists. True, it is someone else's fault, but it's also the fault of you and me.
The pain should point us back to God instead of away from God. Now, I'm not saying that we should all become believers because that's our only hope. You can if you want and I would rejoice with you, but the God that we believe in is a God of liberation and love. If you choose not to believe in God, at least believe in liberation and love. The pain that you and millions of others feel should point us to the way of liberation and love. We have tried living as sad machines and it only leads to more sadness. Now with our faces on the ground we have no choice but to take a different path.
It's up to you and me, folks. You and I are the stain of this world. So you and I must choose a different path. There is no more time for blaming and complaining and wondering. You and I must do the liberating and the loving, you and I must do the work of justice and hope. Let's not wait for others to do something. It's up to you and me.
And trust me, you are a powerful voice. Flood your political representatives with letters and signatures, organize rallies, raise funds for organizations like Polaris Project. It's up to you and me, and we are powerful.
"An ageless question, universal
They're asking why
Creation destined cries flood the night in pain
They say if You are real then take it away
But man will only look to You lying on his face
Now we lie awake
With shut eyes
So to forever forget this
Their cries, this agony, injustices, suffering
Symptoms of a larger disease
Inside of me and you and me
So try to close your eyes and make it fade away
But open and you'll see
This stain is you, this stain is me
Now so many wonder why it is
So much has gone awry in all of this
And being makes you sigh that you exist
But you can't escape this
Seemingly undeserved is your lot
But generations past and you forgot
We chose to eat our fill and fell to not
This pain is here reminding us to turn and leave
To come back home
Pointing to show us the way"
Whenever I listen to this song my only reaction is, "Wow." It's not often that a Christian band, or a Christian in general, acknowledges the pain and struggle wrapped up in the question of suffering in this world. Suffering exists and it often seems like Christians don't acknowledge it or simply aren't aware. We Christians are often guilty of making life with God seem happy-go-lucky and nothing can go wrong. All the while the truth is that God's Creation cries out in pain. And what a strange thing: the world that God has supposedly created agonizes day in and day out. Logically, then, God doesn't exist... unless we are lying on our face and we have no way to turn except to prayer.
This is our sad fate. We struggle in pain until we can struggle no longer and then we turn to God out of desperation. But the title of the song is so appropriate. We've turned ourselves into sad machines. As long as we are eating our fill of the symptoms of a larger disease we are nothing but machines of this world that we humans have created, and it is a world of great suffering because we become the stain of the world. We sad machines are the stain of the world.
We wonder why there is so much suffering in the world, we wonder why there are 27 million slaves in the world today. How could God let that happen? How could people be so evil as to create such a large underground slave system? How could our government and other governments allow such a thing? The truth is that you and I are the reason. You and I feel the pain but we also create the pain, our own pain and the insufferable pain of others. Part of our sad machine existence is the refusal to admit the part that we play and instead sit around complaining about the role others have played. It's always someone else's fault that so much pain exists, so much slavery exists. True, it is someone else's fault, but it's also the fault of you and me.
The pain should point us back to God instead of away from God. Now, I'm not saying that we should all become believers because that's our only hope. You can if you want and I would rejoice with you, but the God that we believe in is a God of liberation and love. If you choose not to believe in God, at least believe in liberation and love. The pain that you and millions of others feel should point us to the way of liberation and love. We have tried living as sad machines and it only leads to more sadness. Now with our faces on the ground we have no choice but to take a different path.
It's up to you and me, folks. You and I are the stain of this world. So you and I must choose a different path. There is no more time for blaming and complaining and wondering. You and I must do the liberating and the loving, you and I must do the work of justice and hope. Let's not wait for others to do something. It's up to you and me.
And trust me, you are a powerful voice. Flood your political representatives with letters and signatures, organize rallies, raise funds for organizations like Polaris Project. It's up to you and me, and we are powerful.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Hollow Again
Here are the lyrics to my favorite song of all-time (not just by Project 86 but literally of all-time), "Hollow Again."
"Somehow I lost my way
And now it's clear to me
All that I fought so hard to keep
Is all I had to leave
I know you can't hear me
And you won't believe me
But there is something I must say here
Before I fade away
(This is how the world ends again)
Forever we will be
Forever we will be hollow
Hollow again
So I'm left here waiting
So long I'm contemplating
And now I know how it is
But now it's far too late
How will we open the eyes of the dead
When we are hollow
Hollow
And all along here I was told
By fallen men in their charade
That we could find a hope inside
The safety of this empty place"
Anyone that knows of T.S. Eliot's famous poem, "Hollow Men," should see at least a bit of his influence on this song. The song ends the album Truthless Heroes, an album written basically as a warning to people not to turn away from God or the path of good. So here at the end of the album we find a person lost spiritually, and finally realizing that they are lost but have no way out. Hollow and full of regret they find that the path of instant gratification is merely an "empty place." And now they are desperate to tell others, those still with some hope, not to turn down the same path.
If you were to listen to this song you'd probably agree that it is extremely powerful. The music itself seems to be full of regret and sadness and the vocals express anger and hopelessness. I really encourage you to look this song up on youtube and listen to it.
For me, the "Somehow" at the beginning of the song is really rather touching. Have you ever had moments in your life when you realize all of a sudden that you are not where you meant to be and you ask the simple question, "At what point did it all go wrong?" Because I believe in God and that all humans are created by God with a sense of love and compassion, I must also believe that the perpetrators of slavery somehow went wrong. I believe that they, too, sometimes wake in the middle of the night and wonder how they lost their way and wishing someone would hear their hollow cries. I believe that even the most evil of people do at least sometimes feel as if they have been led astray be fallen men in their charades. I believe that they know they've become hollow and are full of sad regret. So I ask that we have compassion on those who perpetrate and contribute to the cruelest of crimes. They, too, are human beings in need of love and understanding and someone to listen to them. If we don't also love them then they are likely to continue to try and find safety in empty places.
I also invite us to see in this song the story of those enslaved. First they are tricked into thinking that the path of slavery is actually the path to a good life and soon they are wondering what went wrong. As they see clearly their situation in life they also realize that it is not their fault for listening to the charades of fallen men, for losing their way, and for becoming hollow. It is the fault of all of us. We as a society have not listened to those who have gone before us. We have not opened the eyes of the dead.
I am often depressed with the lack of care many high school and college students graduate with toward history. Once I was talking about the Civil War with a friend and she cut me off, saying, "I know it's bad but I don't know much about history," and then she laughed it off and changed the subject. Though our Capitol building contains a number of quotations about the importance of history over its many doorways, we live in a country that simply does not care about where we have come from. That is particularly scary given our horrible history with slavery.
Folks, the slaves in the world today are hopeless because they feel their hollowness. The way they have been used and abused has left them with little to no feelings and little to no concern for their body. They have become or are becoming machines at the hands of people who themselves have not been loved properly. All I can say is that the hollowness of the 27 million slaves in the world today demand us to open the eyes of the dead. We need to understand ourselves and the societies we live in. We need to understand where we have gone wrong in the past and actually do something about it. We have been given the power and the tools to create justice by those who have gone before us. We need to claim that and start making a difference.
"Somehow I lost my way
And now it's clear to me
All that I fought so hard to keep
Is all I had to leave
I know you can't hear me
And you won't believe me
But there is something I must say here
Before I fade away
(This is how the world ends again)
Forever we will be
Forever we will be hollow
Hollow again
So I'm left here waiting
So long I'm contemplating
And now I know how it is
But now it's far too late
How will we open the eyes of the dead
When we are hollow
Hollow
And all along here I was told
By fallen men in their charade
That we could find a hope inside
The safety of this empty place"
Anyone that knows of T.S. Eliot's famous poem, "Hollow Men," should see at least a bit of his influence on this song. The song ends the album Truthless Heroes, an album written basically as a warning to people not to turn away from God or the path of good. So here at the end of the album we find a person lost spiritually, and finally realizing that they are lost but have no way out. Hollow and full of regret they find that the path of instant gratification is merely an "empty place." And now they are desperate to tell others, those still with some hope, not to turn down the same path.
If you were to listen to this song you'd probably agree that it is extremely powerful. The music itself seems to be full of regret and sadness and the vocals express anger and hopelessness. I really encourage you to look this song up on youtube and listen to it.
For me, the "Somehow" at the beginning of the song is really rather touching. Have you ever had moments in your life when you realize all of a sudden that you are not where you meant to be and you ask the simple question, "At what point did it all go wrong?" Because I believe in God and that all humans are created by God with a sense of love and compassion, I must also believe that the perpetrators of slavery somehow went wrong. I believe that they, too, sometimes wake in the middle of the night and wonder how they lost their way and wishing someone would hear their hollow cries. I believe that even the most evil of people do at least sometimes feel as if they have been led astray be fallen men in their charades. I believe that they know they've become hollow and are full of sad regret. So I ask that we have compassion on those who perpetrate and contribute to the cruelest of crimes. They, too, are human beings in need of love and understanding and someone to listen to them. If we don't also love them then they are likely to continue to try and find safety in empty places.
I also invite us to see in this song the story of those enslaved. First they are tricked into thinking that the path of slavery is actually the path to a good life and soon they are wondering what went wrong. As they see clearly their situation in life they also realize that it is not their fault for listening to the charades of fallen men, for losing their way, and for becoming hollow. It is the fault of all of us. We as a society have not listened to those who have gone before us. We have not opened the eyes of the dead.
I am often depressed with the lack of care many high school and college students graduate with toward history. Once I was talking about the Civil War with a friend and she cut me off, saying, "I know it's bad but I don't know much about history," and then she laughed it off and changed the subject. Though our Capitol building contains a number of quotations about the importance of history over its many doorways, we live in a country that simply does not care about where we have come from. That is particularly scary given our horrible history with slavery.
Folks, the slaves in the world today are hopeless because they feel their hollowness. The way they have been used and abused has left them with little to no feelings and little to no concern for their body. They have become or are becoming machines at the hands of people who themselves have not been loved properly. All I can say is that the hollowness of the 27 million slaves in the world today demand us to open the eyes of the dead. We need to understand ourselves and the societies we live in. We need to understand where we have gone wrong in the past and actually do something about it. We have been given the power and the tools to create justice by those who have gone before us. We need to claim that and start making a difference.
Team Black
I want to make up for lost time due to technical difficulties by posting twice today. If y'all are following along day-by-day and you don't see a post later tonight, hold me accountable!
Part of the reason that I want to post twice today is that Project 86's third album, Truthless Heroes, was an album-long story about a person who seeks after the pleasures that I talked about last night: those instant and temporary pleasures that we use to avoid looking at who we really are. Andrew Schwab, the lead singer, has said that Huxley's A Brave New World and Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter were major influences on the album. If you are at all familiar with those novels then you perhaps can imagine the lyrical contents of the album. In a strange twist the Christian community basically shunned Project 86 after this album because the lyrics are not "Christian." Personally I find the lyrics extremely Christian because they show us what happens when we turn away from God and refuse to look at ourselves and who we really are.
I feel it necessary to explain the background because otherwise you might be really confused by the lyrics that I'm about to post. These lyrics come from the song, "Team Black." The "You" in the song is most definitely not God but the Devil along with his bag of temporary and ruinous pleasures.
"I don't even like the taste of blood
But it was all they had for sale today
And this is hunger that just won't go away
I was taught to drink my fill of you
You were taught to take take take from me
The more I taste the more I need
The more it (You) makes me ill
The more I taste the more I need
Need my fill of you
You are a sight for hungry eyes today
I am needing more of you inside of me
I am nothing more than what they've made of me
I was taught to drink my fill of you
You were taught to take take take from me
And when my objects become used
I throw them all away
And when I need another fill
I'll turn to you again"
If you go back and read my post from yesterday you'll see how well this song goes with "Cold and Calculated," among other P86 songs. Like a cigarette, all the temporary and ruinous pleasures that beckon to us very rarely are isolated events. Once we taste of the forbidden pleasures we need more. And we will need more even if we acknowledge that they are taking from us our hope and contentment, even if we acknowledge that they are making us ill.
The last verse particularly troubles me. When the objects of our pleasure no longer give us the high we once experienced, we throw them away. Here is the rub, as they say, regarding slavery. Our selfish hearts demand certain pleasures and so we gather together "objects" to help us attain those pleasures. In the case of drugs we ruin our lives. In the case of sex or building a fortune we ruin the lives of others and human beings become our objects. As soon as we have had our fill of our sex or labor objects we simply throw them away. As soon as our objects have lost their value we throw them away.
Imagine how awful it must be for a young woman to have her vagina sown back together over and over again because her clients only find value in her if she feels like a virgin. Imagine how awful it must be for a sex slave to be beaten by her client because he/she "gets off" on that, and then thrown away because now they're bruised and no longer beautiful.
Once again I invite you to think about your own life. "Team Black" and the album Truthless Heroes are not merely explorations into the hearts and minds of those who have completely ruined their lives, they are explorations into the hearts and minds of all people. How often do you seek after a pleasure, receive it, and then feel empty afterward? How often do you seek after a pleasure even though you know it's not going to make you feel any better?
My hunch is that we can all relate, that all of our answers to these questions are, at least, "occasionally" or "sometimes." Ultimately I think what this song, and Project 86 in general, is trying to tell us is that drug addicts and those who own slaves or contribute to the act of slavery are not a whole lot different from us. The sooner we acknowledge that there is not a great divide between "us" and "them who commit these awful deeds" the sooner we can understand the motives and perhaps put an end to all of it. The sooner we see that we, too, seek after things knowing, at least deep down, that they'll only make us feel worse in the end the sooner we will be able to speak openly about temptations with our friends and children so that they might not choose a sick and twisted path. For it is only when we can talk openly with those whom we love about our temptations and why we're tempted that we can speak about how and why we are delivered, why we do not give in. Only then can we actually teach others just how dangerous the wrong paths are.
Part of the reason that I want to post twice today is that Project 86's third album, Truthless Heroes, was an album-long story about a person who seeks after the pleasures that I talked about last night: those instant and temporary pleasures that we use to avoid looking at who we really are. Andrew Schwab, the lead singer, has said that Huxley's A Brave New World and Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter were major influences on the album. If you are at all familiar with those novels then you perhaps can imagine the lyrical contents of the album. In a strange twist the Christian community basically shunned Project 86 after this album because the lyrics are not "Christian." Personally I find the lyrics extremely Christian because they show us what happens when we turn away from God and refuse to look at ourselves and who we really are.
I feel it necessary to explain the background because otherwise you might be really confused by the lyrics that I'm about to post. These lyrics come from the song, "Team Black." The "You" in the song is most definitely not God but the Devil along with his bag of temporary and ruinous pleasures.
"I don't even like the taste of blood
But it was all they had for sale today
And this is hunger that just won't go away
I was taught to drink my fill of you
You were taught to take take take from me
The more I taste the more I need
The more it (You) makes me ill
The more I taste the more I need
Need my fill of you
You are a sight for hungry eyes today
I am needing more of you inside of me
I am nothing more than what they've made of me
I was taught to drink my fill of you
You were taught to take take take from me
And when my objects become used
I throw them all away
And when I need another fill
I'll turn to you again"
If you go back and read my post from yesterday you'll see how well this song goes with "Cold and Calculated," among other P86 songs. Like a cigarette, all the temporary and ruinous pleasures that beckon to us very rarely are isolated events. Once we taste of the forbidden pleasures we need more. And we will need more even if we acknowledge that they are taking from us our hope and contentment, even if we acknowledge that they are making us ill.
The last verse particularly troubles me. When the objects of our pleasure no longer give us the high we once experienced, we throw them away. Here is the rub, as they say, regarding slavery. Our selfish hearts demand certain pleasures and so we gather together "objects" to help us attain those pleasures. In the case of drugs we ruin our lives. In the case of sex or building a fortune we ruin the lives of others and human beings become our objects. As soon as we have had our fill of our sex or labor objects we simply throw them away. As soon as our objects have lost their value we throw them away.
Imagine how awful it must be for a young woman to have her vagina sown back together over and over again because her clients only find value in her if she feels like a virgin. Imagine how awful it must be for a sex slave to be beaten by her client because he/she "gets off" on that, and then thrown away because now they're bruised and no longer beautiful.
Once again I invite you to think about your own life. "Team Black" and the album Truthless Heroes are not merely explorations into the hearts and minds of those who have completely ruined their lives, they are explorations into the hearts and minds of all people. How often do you seek after a pleasure, receive it, and then feel empty afterward? How often do you seek after a pleasure even though you know it's not going to make you feel any better?
My hunch is that we can all relate, that all of our answers to these questions are, at least, "occasionally" or "sometimes." Ultimately I think what this song, and Project 86 in general, is trying to tell us is that drug addicts and those who own slaves or contribute to the act of slavery are not a whole lot different from us. The sooner we acknowledge that there is not a great divide between "us" and "them who commit these awful deeds" the sooner we can understand the motives and perhaps put an end to all of it. The sooner we see that we, too, seek after things knowing, at least deep down, that they'll only make us feel worse in the end the sooner we will be able to speak openly about temptations with our friends and children so that they might not choose a sick and twisted path. For it is only when we can talk openly with those whom we love about our temptations and why we're tempted that we can speak about how and why we are delivered, why we do not give in. Only then can we actually teach others just how dangerous the wrong paths are.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Cold and Calculated
I've had some technical difficulties with putting up new posts, but we're up and running again. Here are the lyrics to the Project 86 song, "Cold and Calculated."
"A life you built exploiting the dreams of innocents
Preying on the wide-eyed fantasies of those with the purest intent
As parasites, they always need a host (how many lives have you bled?)
Your crooked gain will always find a leech’s ending
There is a reason you cannot sleep
You found the wages you’ve sown in greed
There is no solace in what you seek
You found that although you have gained it all you had to sacrifice...
Your prize.
After all was said and done you lost...
Your pet.
Rest it eludes you as spirits fill your head
Longing for the days when ghosts you used won’t follow you into your bed
So now it’s cost the apple of your eyes (you’ll never see her again)
Why can’t you see that she is not your property when...
How many lives have you bled?
After all was said and done, you lost...
Your pet.
Your prize."
This song reminds me a lot of my favorite movie, Donnie Darko, but trying to explain why would take a long time. Instead, I'll just point out how relevant this song is to the issue of slavery, sex slavery in particular. The selfish greed that drives many of us silly human beings is not only a very temporary satisfaction, but a temporary satisfaction that causes permanent harm to the perpetrator. Of course, permanent and irreparable harm is done to the victim and that is what we abolitionists are most concerned about, but we should need ignore the spiritual damage inflicted on the perpetrator as well.
One commonality between the Christian idea of sin and the Buddhist understanding of karma is that both express an undeniable truth: when we do wrong, it seriously and negatively affects us for the rest of our lives. Once we have manipulated and used and hurt others their faces remain with us and we cannot escape. We might not ever admit it to anyone or ourselves, but we are haunted by the people we have hurt and the people we have neglected to help. More and more we need to find ways to put ourselves to sleep because on the brink of dreaming the voices of those who have cried out against us return. Instead of confronting ourselves and all the wrong we have committed, we seek out more of the same instant and temporary pleasures so that we might forget or convince ourselves that we are, indeed, good and happy people.
Unfortunately, the truth is that we are not good and happy people. The more we avoid that truth the more we avoid actually getting to know who we really are as individuals. And the more we avoid who we really are, the less likely we are to ever find peace within ourselves and start walking down the long, hard road to some real contentment.
"You've found the wages you've sown in greed, there is no solace in what you seek." We just simply don't want to admit it, so we run after the solace-less pleasures more and more not recognizing the awful consequences.
I invite you to seriously reflect on your life and who you are. Are you willing to admit when you do wrong? Are you willing to admit that maybe you're not as good a person as you think you are? Have you really dealt with those instances in which you've hurt others or not helped others when you could/should have? Do you seek temporary pleasures to forget, to convince yourself that you are happy and feel good?
These are the questions we need to ask ourselves. Trust me, we are a hair's breadth away from crumbling into some really bad people. These are the questions that slaveholders and all the people that take advantage of slaves, especially sex slaves, do not ask themselves. They decided long ago that they couldn't look themselves in the eye so instead chose the path of continual gratification and greed. We, then, must take the risk of looking ourselves in the eye so that we do not contribute to the problem, and so that we might possibly hopefully God-willing encourage others to do the same.
"A life you built exploiting the dreams of innocents
Preying on the wide-eyed fantasies of those with the purest intent
As parasites, they always need a host (how many lives have you bled?)
Your crooked gain will always find a leech’s ending
There is a reason you cannot sleep
You found the wages you’ve sown in greed
There is no solace in what you seek
You found that although you have gained it all you had to sacrifice...
Your prize.
After all was said and done you lost...
Your pet.
Rest it eludes you as spirits fill your head
Longing for the days when ghosts you used won’t follow you into your bed
So now it’s cost the apple of your eyes (you’ll never see her again)
Why can’t you see that she is not your property when...
How many lives have you bled?
After all was said and done, you lost...
Your pet.
Your prize."
This song reminds me a lot of my favorite movie, Donnie Darko, but trying to explain why would take a long time. Instead, I'll just point out how relevant this song is to the issue of slavery, sex slavery in particular. The selfish greed that drives many of us silly human beings is not only a very temporary satisfaction, but a temporary satisfaction that causes permanent harm to the perpetrator. Of course, permanent and irreparable harm is done to the victim and that is what we abolitionists are most concerned about, but we should need ignore the spiritual damage inflicted on the perpetrator as well.
One commonality between the Christian idea of sin and the Buddhist understanding of karma is that both express an undeniable truth: when we do wrong, it seriously and negatively affects us for the rest of our lives. Once we have manipulated and used and hurt others their faces remain with us and we cannot escape. We might not ever admit it to anyone or ourselves, but we are haunted by the people we have hurt and the people we have neglected to help. More and more we need to find ways to put ourselves to sleep because on the brink of dreaming the voices of those who have cried out against us return. Instead of confronting ourselves and all the wrong we have committed, we seek out more of the same instant and temporary pleasures so that we might forget or convince ourselves that we are, indeed, good and happy people.
Unfortunately, the truth is that we are not good and happy people. The more we avoid that truth the more we avoid actually getting to know who we really are as individuals. And the more we avoid who we really are, the less likely we are to ever find peace within ourselves and start walking down the long, hard road to some real contentment.
"You've found the wages you've sown in greed, there is no solace in what you seek." We just simply don't want to admit it, so we run after the solace-less pleasures more and more not recognizing the awful consequences.
I invite you to seriously reflect on your life and who you are. Are you willing to admit when you do wrong? Are you willing to admit that maybe you're not as good a person as you think you are? Have you really dealt with those instances in which you've hurt others or not helped others when you could/should have? Do you seek temporary pleasures to forget, to convince yourself that you are happy and feel good?
These are the questions we need to ask ourselves. Trust me, we are a hair's breadth away from crumbling into some really bad people. These are the questions that slaveholders and all the people that take advantage of slaves, especially sex slaves, do not ask themselves. They decided long ago that they couldn't look themselves in the eye so instead chose the path of continual gratification and greed. We, then, must take the risk of looking ourselves in the eye so that we do not contribute to the problem, and so that we might possibly hopefully God-willing encourage others to do the same.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Project 86
Tomorrow morning is my last training ride before I leave next Thursday. I figure a week of rest will do my legs some good. I'll be riding to Mount Vernon and back. You can do the math. But as I realize that the trip of a lifetime has come quickly and in just eight days I will be putting my body to the test for the sake of millions of slaves who have to put their bodies to a more gruesome test daily, I am trying to gather as many materials as possible to reflect on in the coming weeks.
It comes as no surprise to me or anyone that knows me well that a Project 86 song is the first thing that I'll reflect on with y'all. Project 86 is a "hardcore" Christian band and, in my humble opinion, the greatest band of all time (or, at least, the greatest Christian band of all time). From their music to their lyrics they are not your stereotypical Christian band. Rather than having choruses like, "Jesus we praise your name," Project 86 is actually creative, artistic, and realistic with their lyrics. When I start talking about P86 I generally continue on for hours, but I will cut myself short by telling a story.
My favorite story concerning P86 is, after a concert, a drug-addicted man approached Andrew Schwab, the lead singer, seeking help. The man said that the music of P86 was just about the only thing keeping him going in life so he was hoping that Schwab might have some means of helping him. After a conversation with the man, Schwab handed him a Bible saying that though he had tried many things, Schwab had come to see that only in the Bible can one find solace and hope and real love. The man was taken aback because he had no idea that P86 is Christian. You see, P86 does not outrightly label themselves as a Christian band because they are not like those other stereotypical Christian bands with fluffy lyrics and even fluffier lyrics that don't seem to have any relation to real life. Instead of making the Christian faith seem separate from life Project 86 infuses everything they do with their faith without detracting from the artistic and realistic qualities that make up their music. Though the man had no idea that P86 is Christian, he walked away with Schwab's Bible and with new hope.
Aside from trying to convince you all to listen to Project 86 and support their mission in this world, I bring them up because over the next few days I will be posting their songs along with a little reflection on how it relates to my ride and what it means to me at this point. I've thought of doing this because the song that I post below has been particularly helpful to me in the recent weeks as I have struggled with my own faith and whether or not my life really matters, whether or not the little good that I'm doing with this bike ride actually matters. I hope that you find the lyrics inspiring. And I'll include a youtube address so that you can find the music to the song as well because I think the song itself is very powerful.
"To Sand We Return"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exa68BnXz5A
Cowering man
A legion of no-ones call
Bet it all
Covenant kill
He points to the heavens
Bare with blank stares
Beckoning search in self for his answer
Reckoning, purge, the great fall, the cancer
Settlement comes in wages, now he is
Shattered, broke, and all alone
We've lost all our control
Our faces fall to the ground
We're powerless to Your voice
Surrender to the sound
What'll it take
To prove our decision's wrong
Will we fall?
Alone in ourselves
There's nothing but chaos, fear
End it here
'Til we concede to drink from the endless
The desert we find ourselves in is hopeless
'Til we submit and let go the control
We will always be alone
We've lost all our control
Our faces fall to the ground
And no longer feeling so
Shattered, broke and all alone
Who do I belong to?
Not earth.
Not world.
Not evil.
Not mortals.
Not wretches.
Not horrors.
Who do I belong to?
Unchanging.
Unbreaking.
Unfailing.
Creator.
Immortal.
Eternal.
It comes as no surprise to me or anyone that knows me well that a Project 86 song is the first thing that I'll reflect on with y'all. Project 86 is a "hardcore" Christian band and, in my humble opinion, the greatest band of all time (or, at least, the greatest Christian band of all time). From their music to their lyrics they are not your stereotypical Christian band. Rather than having choruses like, "Jesus we praise your name," Project 86 is actually creative, artistic, and realistic with their lyrics. When I start talking about P86 I generally continue on for hours, but I will cut myself short by telling a story.
My favorite story concerning P86 is, after a concert, a drug-addicted man approached Andrew Schwab, the lead singer, seeking help. The man said that the music of P86 was just about the only thing keeping him going in life so he was hoping that Schwab might have some means of helping him. After a conversation with the man, Schwab handed him a Bible saying that though he had tried many things, Schwab had come to see that only in the Bible can one find solace and hope and real love. The man was taken aback because he had no idea that P86 is Christian. You see, P86 does not outrightly label themselves as a Christian band because they are not like those other stereotypical Christian bands with fluffy lyrics and even fluffier lyrics that don't seem to have any relation to real life. Instead of making the Christian faith seem separate from life Project 86 infuses everything they do with their faith without detracting from the artistic and realistic qualities that make up their music. Though the man had no idea that P86 is Christian, he walked away with Schwab's Bible and with new hope.
Aside from trying to convince you all to listen to Project 86 and support their mission in this world, I bring them up because over the next few days I will be posting their songs along with a little reflection on how it relates to my ride and what it means to me at this point. I've thought of doing this because the song that I post below has been particularly helpful to me in the recent weeks as I have struggled with my own faith and whether or not my life really matters, whether or not the little good that I'm doing with this bike ride actually matters. I hope that you find the lyrics inspiring. And I'll include a youtube address so that you can find the music to the song as well because I think the song itself is very powerful.
"To Sand We Return"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exa68BnXz5A
Cowering man
A legion of no-ones call
Bet it all
Covenant kill
He points to the heavens
Bare with blank stares
Beckoning search in self for his answer
Reckoning, purge, the great fall, the cancer
Settlement comes in wages, now he is
Shattered, broke, and all alone
We've lost all our control
Our faces fall to the ground
We're powerless to Your voice
Surrender to the sound
What'll it take
To prove our decision's wrong
Will we fall?
Alone in ourselves
There's nothing but chaos, fear
End it here
'Til we concede to drink from the endless
The desert we find ourselves in is hopeless
'Til we submit and let go the control
We will always be alone
We've lost all our control
Our faces fall to the ground
And no longer feeling so
Shattered, broke and all alone
Who do I belong to?
Not earth.
Not world.
Not evil.
Not mortals.
Not wretches.
Not horrors.
Who do I belong to?
Unchanging.
Unbreaking.
Unfailing.
Creator.
Immortal.
Eternal.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)