from the void

Turning away

December 29th, 2003

*Listening to Pearl Jam - Alive (Live and Unplugged)*

Well, the end of yet another year is near and as is our tradition we take time out to take stock and perhaps contemplate what we have sown. I’ll not speak on a personal level tonight… well, personal yes, but on the broader scale of the world we live in. It has been a year of much turmoil and I fear still what is to come. As I sit here, I want to share two things with you:

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php

and http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/28/1072546411783.html

But as I sit here I also think of the protests against the war and the protests against the inhumane treatment of asylum seekers, and I recall Trace asking me if I believe that protesting actually works. Absolutely it does and though there is a shadow cast over our world, ‘a fizzy light bursts to bright’ and I have hope for the future. And so tonight I pray that I, and the ones I love, have the courage to not join in ‘the turning away’…

“On the turning away

From the pale and downtrodden

And the words they say

Which we won’t understand

“Don’t accept that what’s happening

Is just a case of others’ suffering

Or you’ll find that you’re joining in

The turning away”

It’s a sin that somehow

Light is changing to shadow

And casting it’s shroud

Over all we have known

Unaware how the ranks have grown

Driven on by a heart of stone

We could find that we’re all alone

In the dream of the proud

On the wings of the night

As the daytime is stirring

Where the speechless unite

In a silent accord

Using words you will find are strange

And mesmerized as they light the flame

Feel the new wind of change

On the wings of the night

No more turning away

From the weak and the weary

No more turning away

From the coldness inside

Just a world that we all must share

It’s not enough just to stand and stare

Is it only a dream that there’ll be

No more turning away? ”

-Pink Floyd - On The Turning Away-

Peace.

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