I'm not much of a protestor, but I readily acknowledge what has been accomplished by protest in societies all around the world. I'm more of a "worker with. . ." I prefer to work *with* people, be they bureaucrats, politicians, NGO members, etc.
Anyway, tonight I was reading a story about Alexandra Morton's march on the BC Legislature to protest farmed salmon, and somehow I remembered the song "We Shall Overcome" because I support her cause. The inference could have been triggered by my youth when my family spent a few years in New York City back in the late 60s/early 70s.
I remember being a wide-eyed, young Canadian boy in an American "experimental" school, holding hands with Black and Hispanic kids on a stage with a huge projection of Frederick Douglass behind us, all of us singing "We Shall Overcome" to the beatific smiles of our white, middle-class, grass-smoking, bra-less teachers. . .
You still appreciating this, Fred? Uh-huh. I figured you'd be a tad more into discipline, hard work, accomplishment, and modesty . . . Anyway. . .
There was a genuine spirit there, as strange as it may have seemed to a boy raised to that point as loyal subject of her Majesty QEII in a traditional Canadian school (accompanied by a good dose of Ukrainian Orthodoxy, including years as an altar boy . . .) I always had a capacity to honour my past, my ancestors, while incorporating new developments. . .
I knew I had a version of "We Shall Overcome" somewhere on my computer, and there it was, the stalwart Bruce Springsteen. . . The song used to mean something, even with my rather acerbic recollection of the circumstances in which I learned it. And it did mean something to me then, and it still does to me now. . .
So . . . Yuck! Where's the passion? This version's a soporific, sugary, somnolent dirge! Bruce, pick it up, eh?
Posted by Paul at May 8, 2010 09:23 PM