THE SONG OF YOURSELF

 

     Did you know that you carry a song within yourself? Some might call it their soul; some might say it is the divine spark put in everyone at the time of their birth. But to the Himba people of Africa, that song has a different meaning.

 

   I recently read on FB (See? You can learn nifty things there.) that the song of yourself begins even before you are born. In this tribe, when a woman first decides she wants to be pregnant, this song becomes part of the baby to be, not yet conceived. It is as if this special song calls the baby into the woman's womb.

   Then, during pregnancy, the mother-to-be sings the song to her baby growing within. And, of course, at birth the song encircles the newborn as it once did within the mother's womb. When difficulties arise or the growing child is in trouble, once again this birth song circles the child to bring them back into harmony with the village.

  I think our entire country needs a birth song such as this.

   On this Fourth of July, 2024, we are in such trouble. Such trouble. We have left the straight path of the rule of law and entered a new territory where a corrupt Supreme Court now makes the decisions about whether a president can or cannot be held liable for his or her actions while in office.

  I do not want this entire blog to be about what is happening in our country and how scary it is, but I do want to encourage all of us to sing a song which will bring this wayward country back into harmony again with the Constitution and our Founding Fathers.

  What would it be? Heather Cox Richardson spoke in a video address on Monday after the decision telling us these things: It was the work of a radical minority; The majority is US, the people; That we mustn't give into despair, that will help no one; That we each need to do what we do best, whatever that may be.

 What I do best is write. It is in my bones, is in my history going back to the first story I wrote at age 8 about a dwarf and a dragon, with the title "Piggoty." The dwarf scares off the dragon, who is roaring at said creature to scare him, by saying, "Go away, I am busy." And thus deflated, the dragon slinks away. Can we do something like that with SCOTUS?

  Yes, vote; yes, organize; yes, drive folks to the polls; yes, engage in conversations with others. But Heather encourages us to be in community with others, that our strength--we, the people--lies in community.

  Trump does not have that. He has sucker-up-tos, awful allies, a very strange family, but no one really likes or trusts him. How can you have community without those things? You can't.

  I, for one, am going to continue to go to the Haydenville UCC which is my community to talk, reach out, support others, and learn how we can push back against this dreadful minority. I am going to spend time in silence and meditation to learn the song of myself which was put there by God when I was born.

 I am hoping that song--once I hear the notes--will help direct me on the path I must follow, the way which will help bring this lost behemoth of a country back into the right way.

   Or, as one of my favorite pastors once said during a sermon, "We will make a way out of no way." Let us hold onto that, my dear peeps.