Steve Trinward Steve Trinward is "Soul Proprietor" of Trinwords.Com (wordsmithing and editing services) and a contributing editor for Rational Review. SUPPORT OUR
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Dialing nine-one-one:
Same as it ever was? There is a popular belief among Second Amendment activists that says, “Dial 911 and Die!” This refers to the fact that given the likely response time of most police officers to the scene of a crime, chances are that calling for assistance is a futile gesture: By the time the authorities get there, you’ll will likely already have been eliminated by your attacker, unless you have taken other precautions such as arming your own self. A similar comment could be made about the upcoming anniversary of the triple kamikaze effort against the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon, and the thwarted fourth jetliner that crashed into the Pennsylvania countryside. In this case, however, the danger is in placing too much emphasis on those events, or on the likelihood of their repetition. It is a fallacy to believe that our lives somehow became significantly more precarious after that specific attack, as many folks have been doing ever since. This has led to a show of only minimal opposition when the powers that be in the Bush Administration have repeatedly threatened (and secretly acted?) to curtail the civil liberties of a number of our citizenry, with no more proof or justification than the authorities’ need for a scapegoat and a set of villains to point to as the root cause of all the tragedy that happened on that day. The reality is quite otherwise, however. Prior to 09/11 Americans were no more safe and secure in their daily goings-on than we were afterward, or even are now. This writer’s own response to the events of a year past ranged from disbelief to resignation to a determination not to allow the panic and fear to overcome his own better judgment and political awareness. Furthermore, as a songwriter, he felt an obligation to express somehow the warring emotions he was experiencing in trying to somehow explain the attack and the inappropriateness of the Bushies’ response to it. He – that is to say, I – was not alone in this. Almost every songwriter I know felt compelled to write some sort of musical comment on the attack, or at least on the emotional and spiritual issues it brought to our waking consciousness. Some just tried to write about the need for understanding, and an attitude of peace; Alan Jackson’s “Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning?” was one of the most obvious attempts in this direction, and although nobody considered it high art, the message was pretty cleanly presented. Some others, especially in the country music realm, got patriotic or even downright angry about it: Aaron Tippin and Toby Keith come respectively to mind: the former’s “Where The Stars And Stripes And The Eagle Flies” spoke firmly but compassionately about the need for healing and solidarity; Keith’s more militant theme swore retribution, though he seemed as incapable of seeing the U.S. culpability as the Bush folks are. Anyway, I ended up writing a song which was mostly NOT about the events, but rather about the response truly needed by most of us here in America: focusing on our Circles of Influence, instead of the uncontrollable Circles of Concern. I called it “Things That Really Matter,” and I’m going to spend the rest of this space just showing the lyric. (One of these days I’ll make a decent demo of the song, and post the link within this piece. That’s one advantage of having this in a web archive…) THINGS THAT REALLY MATTER © 2001 trinSONGS Words & Music by Steve Trinward There's no denying … things have changed Since the end of the world we knew A part of us may never be the same But it does no good to spend our time Worrying about what may never come There's a better way to make it through Keep on doing the THINGS THAT REALLY MATTER Sharing our love … Raising our kids Teaching them wrong from right Be strong doing THE THINGS THAT REALLY MATTER Braving the darkness and bringing it into the Light It's not a question / Of living in fear We've been given a wake-up call Can't pretend we're still unaware (So) find the meaning in the smallest flower Take a breath of fresh air when you can Let yourself really live for as long as you're here And Keep on doing the THINGS THAT REALLY MATTER Sharing our love … Raising our kids Teaching them wrong from right Be strong doing THE THINGS THAT REALLY MATTER Braving the darkness and bringing it into the Light Let's admit that life can be dangerous In everyday living in the world Then focus our sights on what we can do We can keep on doing the THINGS THAT REALLY MATTER Sharing our love … Raising our kids And teaching them wrong from right We can be strong doing THE THINGS THAT REALLY MATTER Braving the darkness and bringing it into the Light Braving the darkness and bringing into the Light All THE THINGS THAT REALLY MATTER |
