Many of the values that we espouse during the Christmas season are just that – seasonal.  A once a year explosion of kindness and cheer overflowing with magnanimity and good deeds; abounding in charitable actions.  Peace descends upon our towns and cities and love is expressed in a pervasive manner that calms the beast in each of us and soothes our frazzled nerves. And… what planet am I now on?

This is all wishful thinking and “pie-in-the-sky” musing.  There is definitely a spirit of the above that resides in the Christmas season, but it is not pervasive.  There are those that would do away with the whole idea of “peace on earth, good will to all.”  They would also do away even with the word and whole idea of Christmas itself.  Keep in mind that in order to have peace, we must first have tolerance.  And that is the most difficult idea to implement.  Tolerance.

When we drive on any freeway in long lines of vehicles practically bumper to bumper, most people will ease back and let you into the next lane if they see your light blinking.  This is tolerance.  However, there are people who will shoot you for interrupting their place in line and chalk it up to road rage.  Is road rage now an excuse for intolerance?  There are also many amateur and professional “robin hoods” who feel that it is their duty to redistribute wealth.  They take whatever they can get from wherever they can get it and give it to the needy, usually themselves and their need for anything, including drugs.  There are also those who will take packages from your doorstep with unknown contents just for the possibility that there might be something valuable inside, or just for the surprise factor.  Do we tolerate bad behavior in order to have peace?  No, of course not.  Tolerance does not equate with submissiveness.  Tolerance means that we allow for individual expressions, religions, customs, traditions and honest mistakes that occur in many ways, as long as they don’t including bullying at any level and in any way.

In a free society our lives are conducted using the honor system; as long as we live within the laws we have in place to help us to interact with others on a day to day basis.  Kindness, ethics, morality and individual responsibility are necessary in our lives, but do they need to be mandated or made into laws?  I hope not.  These need to be instilled in us by our parents and reinforced by our schools.  They need to be explained and shown to us by example why they are important by all of our forms of religion, our belief in a supreme being or creator of everything in the universe as we know it.  We learn the above ideas by listening and watching and hearing the ideas of those who have the experience of tolerance.  This becomes the path to peace.  Not to be mandated, but taught.

December and the Christmas season in whatever form are very important to our society and its continued existence as we know it. The ideas of goodness and kindness and peace are valid and need to be carried through the rest of the year.  In December this can become a magical feeling of rising above our normal harsh realities.  This magical feeling is good for us.  It gives us an overview that can carry through the rest of our lives if we can only remember what it was like to be a child and then to apply these feelings of wonderment and magic to our own existence at this point in time.  This temporary suspension of reality can provide us with a permanent feeling of tolerance and then to its logical conclusion – peace!   Let there be peace on earth!  But it must first begin with me, and us, all of us.   Have a magical, mysterious,  and very Merry Christmas…!

 This November two things stand out to me: Veteran’s Day on November 11 and Election Day on November 6.  Veteran’s Day calls on us to support those citizens who volunteered to serve our country for a period of time regardless of the hardships and consequences that may occur.  Many of them are living examples of these hardships.  They have lost arms, legs, hands and sometimes their minds and future lives.  Many are too broken to live with those who had supported them and are now homeless.

Election Day is highlighted by citizens who have strong opinions about politicians and issues and use the power of their vote to make our country stable, lawful and constitutional.  This day is sacred to those who care about their country and want to keep it free. This is a day when changes can occur that determine whether we either stay the course or change direction.  Both of the above days depend upon each citizen supporting the basic ideals of the country in which they live, and this in a word is Patriotism.

Most of us believe that we support our country.  We live comfortably, we vote, we pay taxes, we raise our families and we live and die in, and for, our country.  But, do we love our country?  Really deep down love our country?  I don’t hear this expressed very often any more.  Has the love of our country gone out of style?  Has it lost its meaning?  Have we forgotten our roots, foundation, and the paths we traveled to get where we are now?  Do we believe in, or have doubts about, the greatness of our land and the reasons it is great?  Do we love our country anymore?

The political left considers this unnecessary and even at times “silly.”  The media of all sorts tend to lessen the whole idea and even obscure it by various smoke screens like dutifully covering it with symbols and short clips and flag waving segments.  But this is superficial.  What is it that is missing?  In a word: Passion!  A passion which signifies a true love of our country and its original ideals and our firm foundation.  Cosmetic patriotism is rampant except in the military and some segments of law enforcement and even segments of our government itself.  But even in these,  the deep down idea of being unafraid to express our true love of country is sometimes superficial.  It is missing in our schools, so our children become unaware of the importance of this deep love.  It is also, unfortunately, missing in our colleges, universities, businesses and places of work.

Do we have deep feelings anymore when we see our flag displayed, our National Anthem performed or our Pledge of Allegiance spoken?  Does anything really move us deeply anymore besides movies and songs as superficial expressions of nationalism and patriotism?  True love of our country must be self-motivated and come from deep down in our hearts and psyche.  It should be felt when we are touched by the true meanings of those who have fought and died for our rights and freedoms.  Respect must be present in our love of country, and a profound understanding of our responsibilities to the land that protects our thoughts and our ideals.  Without our full participation and respect and realization of our responsibilities, a deep and true love of our country is not possible.

How do we wake up?

A large part of our love of country is made possible by faith in our system of government;  judicial, legislative and executive branches.  I first became aware of the office of the president when Harry Truman was in office in the 40’s.  In my own elementary way I supported him.  He was a wartime president with unimaginable responsibilities.  I respected the office that he held.  Thereafter from Dwight Eisenhower through Bush 1, Clinton, Bush 2, Obama and now Donald Trump I have supported that office even when I did not agree with decisions and policies.  I realized early on that I did not have to like the person, but I did have to support the office.  I still feel that way.  And this goes for all of those who hold elected office.  This is why our vote is so important.  We are free to use this power to express our own opinions and ultimately our love and respect for our country.

The existence of our country depends upon our true love and respect and support.  We need to retrieve the right to freely express our love for our country.  We need to respect our flag, our National Anthem and our Pledge of Allegiance. And we need to be able to show our patriotism and nationalism without reprisal or derision.  It starts with each individual citizen.  We will know that this is happening when we are unashamed to express our love openly and unfettered. We should all welcome this idea and crave it deeply for it will ensure our continued existence in freedom.  Say this clearly:  sing it……shout it……….!

“God Bless America!”

I am an American.  I was born here. My parents were born here. My grandparents, however, were immigrants.  In those days everyone who came to this country went through a process that made them aware of our rules and regulations and our way of life.  It made them proud to be part of such a great and powerful nation which was bursting with opportunities.  My paternal grandfather worked in a steel mill and eventually died while working there.  My grandmother initially found housing for those immigrants who came through the steel mill.  She became interested in this process and gradually started to help others find housing when they came from other countries in Eastern Europe to work in the same mill.  She didn’t work for the mill or officially start her own business, but she was able to help many people find housing by buying small houses for them to rent until they could buy their own places.  These immigrants became proud of this country with its securities and its opportunities.  All of this was based on responsibilities and an innate incentive to work hard and raise a family of responsible citizens.  When you invest your time and your life by assimilating, you end up loving the process that gave you the opportunity to live and grow and raise a family and help others to do the same.

At what point in our lives did words like patriotism and nationalism and Americanism become epithets?  The whole idea of America and its freedoms implies work; requires work.  Each of us must search for, and find and grasp opportunities when they appear.  They don’t find you and surround you. You must do the work.  You must become responsible and teach your children to become responsible.  Then and only then can you reap the rewards of our freedom and then become proud of the processes we live by and truly appreciate the country that made them possible.  At that point, after the toil and sweat in whatever type of endeavor, you become increasingly proud of our country and its freedom and opportunities.  Love of country implies responsibility and hard work.  Remember that this country has given you the opportunity to find your own way by working responsibly for your own life and its rewards.

There is a growing segment of our society that no longer adheres to the above ideas.  This growing segment increasingly turns ideas and practices and responsibilities upside down.  These people would like for the government to do the work for them, and to provide the processes and the research and the rewards for them.  Ultimately thinking “Why should I work? The government can, and will take care of me.”  This is backwards and upside down and very wrong.  Why?  Because the people who think this way are no longer invested in the welfare and health of our country.  They are only interested and invested in themselves.  They are no longer proud of our country, and they would like for everyone to feel the same.  They no longer believe in majority rule, the idea that what most people think about the rules and processes of our country is right.  This upside down approach has never worked historically and they fail to realize this. The wrongness of the government as sole provider is obvious to intelligent and thoughtful people. But there is a barrage of propaganda against them.  This has infected our educational system, our news media, our politics and our way of life.

This has to stop!

The vast majority of hard-working, thinking people must awaken as a united populace and say collectively that we have had enough of this wrong thinking.  We are proud of our country and its freedoms.  We are proud to be Americans.  We each have the power of one vote.  We need to be willing to use it to preserve our responsible way of life.  We are the people!  God bless us and may God Bless America!

September 5 is St. Mother Teresa’s feast day.  I became interested in her story several years ago and when I read books and articles about her life, I decided to write a musical piece about her. She was a dedicated and powerful force in our world at that time.  She worked tirelessly for the poor and homeless and downtrodden.  And she organized her order of nuns and trained them in the same vocation that she was living.  The musical piece features a soloist and choir and instrumental accompaniment.  The choir serves to elicit the response of the soloist who is singing poignant words and phrases that she used during her life.  May her words have a ripple effect in your own life.

By Bill Svarda

REF:
I alone cannot change the world,
but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples,
to create many ripples,
to create many ripples.

© 2018, International  Liturgy Publications

PO Box 50476, Nashville, TN 37205

www.ILPmusic.org, 888-898-SONG

All rights reserved. International copyright secured.

Some thoughts on the state of our arts:  When was the last time any of us used the terms awesome or beautiful or uplifting for contemporary works of art?  Music, painting, theater, sculpture, architecture, literature, etc.  When was the last time any of the above moved you in a spiritual manner?  Are we becoming immune to beauty?  Have we lost touch with our inner feelings?  Or has the art itself become trivialized or uncommunicative or irrelevant?  Are we losing our ability to feel deep-seated emotions?  It it the art? Or is it us?  Whatever the case, we are not connecting.

Have we reached a saturation point?  Is there so much music, visual arts, literature, etc, that we have become numb to anything specific in the arts or everything in general?  Is everything so accessible that it has lost its meaning?  Has everything become mediocre just by sheer quantity and weight?  Are we mass-producing art in every way that makes all of the above possible?  And what are the long-term effects of this?  Will our children and grandchildren forget how to appreciate something special because there is nothing special anymore?  And, how do we reverse this?

How do we take the numbers and the business commodity aspect out of our arts?  Any solution will take time to implement.  True art takes time.  The crafting of anything takes time, especially when it is one-of-a-kind.  One special painting rather than one thousand.  Something unique in any of the arts rather than everything in general.  But then, how does the artist of any kind exist?

Survival of the artist is paramount if there is to be art at all.  And survival means money and money means mass-producing, and then we have come full circle. Back to the present.  In the past there was a system of patronage.  The patron provided funding and the artist provided the art.  This seemed to work at times in the past.  Now, I’m not so sure.  Complacency can enter the scene:  just produce anything and get paid.  Not a good idea for the arts. Is the starving artist the solution?  Art of any kind does not exist in a vacuum.  It needs fresh air.  Does art reflect our times or does it cause trends?  Is it active or passive?

What will last indefinitely can’t be recognized in its own time.  Our own feelings are too adaptable and malleable.  Art is a hook, but we have trouble because of this when we try to make judgments or discriminate within a style. Ancient art is specific to its own times. It is special because of its craft and also its limited quantity.  It is special, unique and one-of-a-kind.  Some of today’s art will become special and unique and also limited.  Keep in mind that all artists have an expiration date.  Art does not.  The artist lives long enough to produce.  There are no parameters, only time.  Present likes and dislikes become irrelevant .  Future likes and dislikes will determine what is special and lasting.

For now we produce our art of whatever kind and hope for the best.  Truth and beauty will ultimately win over quantity and the expedient.  Auto-exoticism.  Only time will tell.  Time after time.

COMMON SENSE #2  (Boundaries)

Would anyone now leave their house unlocked when they leave, or even when they are at home? Does anyone leave their car unlocked? Their place of business?  Would anyone not try to prevent disease or virus or infection from entering their body?  Protection, security, safety, prevention:  we live with all of these daily.  Life is unthinkable without them.  Our cities, towns, organizations, societies and our country have laws for the above.  We live with them daily and abide by them and in all of them there are penalties for infractions.  This insures that all citizens may be safe and secure and live without constant daily fear.  Our military, our police, our doctors, lawyers and judges are all supposed to enforce and interpret the laws that our representatives have drawn up.  Our government itself with its executive, legislative and judicial branches as checks and balances is supposed to maintain our systems of safety and security so that we don’t live in fear from month to month and year to year.

When all of this is working properly, then all of the above is possible.  We trust in our system of government which is based on the very simple premises of common sense and logic.  Common sense should permeate our society.  It makes the normal interactions of normal people possible, actions such as driving a car, waiting in lines patiently, crossing a street, helping someone in need.  All of these mean that our existence is assured. Problems are caused when common sense is blurred or when there is a mental breakdown either individually or collectively.  If your plumbing or electricity breaks down you either fix it or have someone else fix it.  The same with your car, and any of your body parts or functions.  This thinking is logical and depends upon common sense.  But what happens when common sense gets blurred and our mental capacity gets impaired either individually or collectively?  When this happens we have breakdowns in our daily living, our bodies, our conveniences and our systems of government.  The question becomes “how do we fix it?”

It only takes one person with common sense and the will to use it to fix things.  Sometimes there is such a person and sometimes there is not.  When there is, the mentally impaired will not immediately recognize the need and value and the necessity of the “fixer.”  How do we distinguish between a true leader who is altruistic (and knowledgeable and competent), and an anarchist or fascist or socialist who wants only personal control and absolute power over everything and everyone?  There is only one way: the use of common sense, logic and dependable information gleaned by dependable education.

When all are blinded by the expedient, common sense needs to prevail.  It may begin with one person, but it needs to spread through the whole populace.  The value of common sense in our leaders and citizens and in ourselves must be recognized in order for us to live our lives without fear.  Common sense means: locking your house, your car and your business, supporting our military and our police, using our medical facilities and being financially responsible.  Our credit cards depend on this.  We are indentified by them and by our license to drive.  These guarantee that we are responsible.  When we write a check we are connected to a bank and we are indentified.  Our society is permeated with our connections and our identifications which validate us as being responsible.  When we vote for our leaders we are identified.  All of this is based on common sense, and common sense like freedom, takes work.  Our minds and our freedoms aren’t free. We must be constantly vigilant against those whose idea of common sense is mentally blurred and would little by little erode the structure of our society and its laws which give us freedom.

The structure of our music mirrors the structure of our society or the eroding of it.  The aimless lack of structure in our music is a warning to be vigilant and active.  Heed it!  Listen actively!  Be discriminating with your listening and viewing.  Think: “Common sense…!