Keeping perspective

And hanging on to hope!

Hi all,

Thank you for joining me for this additional commentary.

Comments and questions are welcome. Please be respectful of others’ opinions if they should differ from yours.

There is no song, but at the end, I’ll include a video of a song I’ve covered before, “From a Distance”, sung by Bette Midler.

For Japanese students, a glossary of the vocabulary in bold is provided below. TOEFL (PBT) 450+, Eiken 2, CEFR B1.

(photo: Nguyen Dang Hoang Nhu, Unsplash)

(528 words)

I received an email this week from a subscriber here on Substack. The reader sent this question:

I do read every episode of Social Issues in Song.  Every time I read a new episode, I learn something important and horrible that I did not know (and I didn’t want to know).  All I can do after reading and listening, all I can do is to sigh --- sigh after sigh for a while.

How can you maintain your mental health facing the realities you report in your newsletter every week?

Wow. What an important question.

Many of the songs remember those who gave everything for a particular cause (Rachel Corrie) (Harvey Milk) or movement (Victor Jara). Other songs are about people who were just caught in a disaster that they did not create (Bhopal) (For Sasha) (Emmett Till) (Minami Sanriku) (Tatuaje) (natural disasters). Because I am privileged in so many ways, I can’t begin to understand what they went though. But maybe I can learn something from them.

We are citizens of the Earth. I believe we have a responsibility to know what has happened in the past and what is happening today to other living beings on our tiny planet. If we do, together, we may be able to find some solutions to the problems we are facing. If we don't, we are going to keep repeating the same mistakes.

Some of the songs make us stop and think about the world and what we as individuals and groups or countries have done to create these situations.

Is it for freedom, Why (tracy Chapman), Tell me why (Declan Galbraith), What happened to peace on earth?

How do I maintain a positive frame of mind? Honestly, there are times that I don't.

But I know that those people who have struggled and given up everything made a difference in the world. Each, in their own way, helped others. I gain strength from those who have gone before:

Yuri Kochiyama, Medgar Evers, Mahsa Amini, Sugihara, Barbara Lee

And then a song pops into my mind that helps me. I hear the words of support and encouragement. I play those words over and over in my mind. I listen to the music that lifts me out of the pessimism. The songs remind me that I am not alone. There is always someone who truly wants to make the world a better place. We are not alone!

Do you hear the Hong Kong people sing?, Ain't gonna let nobody turn me around, On lache rien! (We don’t Give Up!), Children we all shall be free!, Union Maid, Ella’s Song (We who believe in freedom cannot rest)

And then, of course, there's humor:

Folk Song Army, Andorra

Remember that there is always something we can do. Buy less. Donate when you can. Join boycotts. Participate in marches if you can. Sign petitions. Talk with others about the issues. Read widely. Above all, take care of yourself and never, ever give up hope.

So, dear reader, thank you for reading these articles. I encourage you to choose a song that inspires you to keep going, listen often, and know that you are not alone.

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Vocabulary

sigh ため息

disaster 災害

privileged 特権

pessimism 悲観主義

petition 嘆願書

inspire 刺激