With faith we can fly on the wings of a dream
We still may become all we hoped we could be
It will take everyone and we’ll have to believe
That we can fly on the wings of a dream
Welcome to Songs and Stories from Home as we continue ON THE WINGS OF A DREAM. This week LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL AFTER ALL.
We are on the eve of a truly significant election. How this county will approach the Pandemic going forward, how we’ll deal with Global Warming, Systemic Racism; these are all on the ballot. We’re deciding whether character in our leaders still matters.
In the last few weeks I’ve been exploring what it means to be ONE NATION INDIVISIBLE that pledges its allegiance to the idea that there should be LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL. Besides a Pledge we make it’s a Dream we’ve had for two and a half centuries. While there has not been steady progress toward that worthy goal it’s an ideal, an idea, an aspiration an inspiration that remains embedded in the American psyche. Or at least that’s what I choose to believe on the eve of this election. It’s also a dream I believe that’s still worth having.
LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL
I had a dream the other night
That our country somehow made things right
Was surprised at what it all looked like
And what had been there all along
We looked like one nation under God Indivisible
With Liberty and Justice for All
We started acting like sisters and brothers
Quarrels sure but we listened to each other
Didn’t treat some like us and others like other
It was the strangest thing
To be one nation under God indivisible
With Liberty and Justice for All
It was some kind of crazy scene
Everyone equal in that dream
I couldn’t believe how right it seemed
Made me laugh until I cried
To truly be one nation under God indivisible
With Liberty and Justice for All
©Copyright 2020 Love Gives More Music
Too often these days instead of empathize we choose to demonize those who are different or have different points of view that ours. Easier to do when we dehumanize them as well. It’s gotten to a point that between Thanksgiving and New Years a stranger can walk by and wish us a Happy Holiday. Instead of smiling and saying thank you we tighten our jaw, pick up our pace, and wonder, sometimes out loud, whether that person has just declared war on Christmas.
One thing that appears to have truly divided us, a decision by a professional football player to kneel humbly instead of standing proudly during the playing of the National Anthem. Instead of being seen as I believe it was intended – as a silent, peaceful protest against violence, mirroring what Tommie Smith and John Carlos did at the Olympics in 1968, it was seen as disrespectful to those who’ve served the military. And the outrage became something to be exploited even by those who found ways to not serve in the military.
I grew up in Spokane, Washington. I remember how at some of the movie theaters they would play the national anthem after the show and how I’d stand up and sing at the top of my lungs. I remember how proud I was to be invited to play football at the Air Force Academy before choosing instead to accept a scholarship from our state’s largest university. I learned over time the price my dad paid because he went to war. Went to war in part so people could be free to peacefully express how they feel. I understand why people stand proudly. I’ve never heard anyone tell them they should instead humbly kneel. What I don’t understand is why it has to be either/or instead of both/and. Which is one of the reasons that while I understand those who stand I stand with those who kneel.
STAND WITH THOSE WHO KNEEL
I was raised to love this country pledge allegiance to the flag
To stand with my hand on my heart before a football game
Yet the more I’ve come to know of love the flag and its appeal
I understand all those who stand and I stand with those who kneel
There’s a lot of shouting back and forth a lot of hurt there too
Both sides have a point to make so that’s what both sides do
Because the anger is heartfelt and the pain is surely real
I understand all those who stand and I stand with those who kneel
There’re lots of ways to love this land to show the way we feel
There are those who do it standing proud and those who humbly kneel
Till there’s justice for all after all and we’re true to our ideals
I understand all those who stand and I stand with those who kneel
I hope that we may see a day when we all stand as one
Or maybe just kneel thankfully if that day ever comes
Until the wrongs have been made right and the hurts have finally healed
I understand all those who stand and I stand with those who kneel
©Copyright 2020 Love Gives More Music
Liberty and Justice for all after all. It is a dream that has carried so far. So far. It’s a dream worth remembering. A dream worth keeping. A dream worth sharing. A nation of individuals. A nation indivisible.
ON THE WINGS OF A DREAM
It goes back to the scriptures and back to the founders
Back to what we pledged on our first day of school
Back to a dream of Martin Luther King back to what we mean by the Golden Rule
It’s a beautiful dream that says everyone’s equal
With rights to life, liberty, happiness too
A dream full of hope for a more perfect union
It’s still not too late for that dream to come true
Chorus
With faith we can fly on the wings of a dream
We still may become all we hoped we could be
It will take everyone and we’ll have to believe
That we can fly on the wings of a dream
If we can be touched now by our better angels
Renewed by ideas found in founding ideals
We may welcome a new day that welcomes a new way
Of seeing what binds us together for real
Individuals, yes, indivisible also
The same and yet different united we stand
May this be our quest that everyone shall know
There’s liberty and Justice for All cross the land
Chorus
With faith we can fly on the wings of a dream
We still may become all we hoped we could be
It will take everyone and we’ll have to believe
That we can fly on the wings of a dream
©Copyright 2020 Love Gives More Music
