American Entertainment

Memorial Day weekend started with the senior recital and graduation party of a three-year-old girl I know. Well, I guess part of me still sees her as three years old.  I was doing fine thinking about all the years and the passage of time and all of that and listening to the piano music and hearing a few things we could still work on during the remaining two lessons. . . then during the reception I wandered into the room with the slide show of the little girl doing little girl things and the song came on the little sound track. . . Taylor Swift singing "Never Grow Up. . . "  Don't you ever grow up. And that was when I lost it. Okay I'm a sucker for passage of time songs. I recovered with little eye make-up left and ate a few more gummy bears from the candy bar decked out in Gator colors.

Fast forward to the Memorial Day service on PBS Sunday night--broadcast from Washington DC.  The fancy tenor came on singing "Bring Him Home" from Les Mis and though I haven't the courage to see that movie yet, the man's mouth looked just the way my dad's mouth looked when he sang a sad song and here we go again. . .but this time no candy bar available. . .

I'm thinking of investing in waterproof mascara and a secret stash of gummy bears.

I was thinking about the elephant in the American room that we spend our entertainment on NFL football and Nascar and other worthy things like Twin games, cop shows on TV and even "Lost" but when push comes to shove. . .

. . . when we mourn our dead. . . when we pay tribute to great courage and sacrifice and honor. . . even when we are joyful and can't keep from singing and dancing. . .we turn to. . .

. . . music.  We need music.  Our souls need music.

For heights and depths no words can reach. . . music is the soul's own speech. . . 

Thank you Lord, for the gift of music.