Don't Cry Baby, Don't Cry. Don't Cry

It's getting harder and harder to fight gravity these days. I try to get exercise and part of that regimen includes going for a brisk run. Motivation is a major factor; if I can get myself out the door, it's a good start. Once I'm on the road, I rely on some good music to set the pace.

So, I'm buzzing along with The Queens of The Stone Age wailing away in my headphones, it's good. The song ends and after a brief lull Paul Simon, Boy in a Bubble comes on. Huh, what was I thinking? I hadn't heard this song in a while, and it seemed that I was going to lose the tempo that I needed to keep my 39 year old legs pumping. As the song played into it's first verse, my big, fumbling fingers attempted to move to the next song on my tiny mp3 player.

I heard the lyrics; stopped the player and went back to the beginning of the song. I played it again. My pace picked up. The song ended. I played it again, again, my pace increased. I was running flat out! I had to get home and get this down on paper while the connections were still fresh in my head.

It was a slow day
And the sun was beating
On the soldiers by the side of the road
There was a bright light
A shattering of shop windows
The bomb in the baby carriage
Was wired to the radio.

This song was made in 1986. It's obvious that the lyrics are directed to the Vietnam War, but isn't it a chilling Deja-vu? Why do we have to keep making the same mistakes over and over again. Why do we have to sacrafice our children, generation after generation to an uncaring, inhuman process in which the goal is to make living flesh into human hamburger.

It’s a turn-around jump shot
It’s everybody jump start
It’s every generation throws a hero up the pop charts
Medicine is magical and magical is art
The boy in the bubble And the baby with the baboon heart

True, Paul, very true you won't hear the network news tell you about what happens to the occupants when a Chinook Helecopter is shot out of the sky, hits a mountain and then tumbles several thousand feet down a ravine. Not when, Tom and Katie could announce there engagement any day now!

And I believeThese are the days of lasers in the jungle
Lasers in the jungle somewhere
Staccato signals of constant information
A loose affiliation of millionaires
And billionaires and baby

Such progress! What a wonderful time we live in! We're deluged in information. I have 400 channels of processed news, cooking shows, info-mercials and sitcoms at my fingertips.

What I don't have is an honest assessment of why we had to invade Iraq. A country that had nothing to do with 9-11. I'd ask that "loose affiliation of millionaires and billionaires," but they'd just call me a "conspiracy nut."

These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don’t cry baby, don’t cry
Don’t cry

No, it's ok to cry.