John Taylor Song

January 19, 2010 - I was thinking this morning about human beings and all the connections and I had a vague memory of writing a post on the topic before. I wasn't specifically thinking about adoption this time but I don't really want to rewrite the post so I've bumped it up. :)

The link doesn't have the song on it anymore - but you read the lyrics here - http://www.asklyrics.com/display/james-taylor/shed-a-little-light-lyrics.htm - Shed a Little Light -

Written January 7, 2007 -

http://www.authorsden.com/categories/poetry_top.asp?catid=69&id=109389 - you can hear the song on this website. It's playing in the background so turn your sound on.

This song (given the first line is about Martin Luther King, Jr.) is obviously about racial issues but I was listening to this CD while I drove home from Denver yesterday and I had been thinking about the adoption world and the war of words happening all over the Internet and in forums everywhere. (Leah was asleep, the car was quiet, & I'd just visited a friend who was adopting her second baby boy - what a wonderful visit! Oh wait... I digress)

So the above song comes on & when it gets to this part at the beginning I start to bawl:

And recognize that there are ties between us
All men and women
Living on the earth
Ties of hope and love
Sister and brotherhood
That we are bound together
In our desire to see the world become
A place in which our children
Can grow free and strong
We are bound together
By the task that stands before us
And the road that lies ahead
We are bound and we are bound

I have a soft spot when it comes to the connectivity of humanity. I cry when everyone pulls over for an ambulance to go by... Why you asks?

In my mind, it's just a smaller reminder that we are connected as human beings on this earth. I'm out running errands and I take the time to get out of the way of an ambulance because someone needs something more urgently than I do. It could be a birth, a death, a car wreck - whatever. I, of course, never get to know where that ambulance was going or who needed a few moments of my time to get help to them more quickly - but I give it because we all matter.

I think sometimes when I'm driving about how I might pass a car on the road & for just a moment our lives are in the same place and headed in the same direction. Where are they going? What are they doing? Is it something mundane? or happy? or heart wrenching?

We don't ever know. I think those things when I'm getting mad at other drivers. Maybe that woman wasn't paying attention because her 3 year old is in the hospital?

Anyway - the song. I was thinking about the momentous task of adoption reform. It's soooo hard. Can it ever be done?

Can I make sure that my daughter grows and feels strong and free?

I will try with all my might.

Sometimes this world is a rough place. Will it defeat her? Can I give her the knowledge to find the inner strength it takes to live life? To do it happily despite the challenges?

She's so smart and so strong and so amazing.

My thoughts are so jumbled about it I'm not quite expressing everything I wanted to.

Oh I know! This was the other thing.

I think sometimes when the different sides of the triad get to discussing things on forums - the goal gets lost. What are we all doing here? We need to remember our bond and what we are striving for.

we are bound together
In our desire to see the world become
A place in which our children
Can grow free and strong
We are bound together
By the task that stands before us
And the road that lies ahead

As members of the triad we ARE bound.

I know that's simplistic and I know the real problem is that people don't agree on the road that will lead to our children growing free and strong. But maybe some of the nastiness would decrease if we remember the task that lies before us...