“Ah, peace like a river ran through the city
Long past the midnight curfew we sat starry-eyed
Ahoh, ahoh, we were satisfied
Ah, and I remember misinformation followed us
Like a plague
Nobody knew from time to time if the plans would change
Ahoh, ahoh, ahoh
If the plans would change
You can beat us with wires
You can beat us with chains
You can run out your rules
But you know you can't outrun the history train
I've seen a glorious day” (Peace Like A River/Paul Simon)
Just when I thought I was a MAVEN, regarding Paul Simon’s musical creations, I find a new “old” song, and as I listen to the lyrics, I am transformed back to my youth during the decade of the 70s. In college, during a time of great chaos, sheltered in my middle class, community, daring to hear questions asked that once were too taboo to even speak, wondering for the first time about life and death (I was listed in the Lottery and wondered about fighting in Viet Nam, and I actually had friends who were either drafted or enlisted), having lived through the assignations’ of JFK, RFK, MLK, the COLD WAR growing hotter, I felt that the future of MY WORLD was so close to falling off some HUMANCREATED PRECIPICE, that hope was all but abandoned. I grew older, I matured, but somehow the POLITICS of the WORLD remained as ADOCLECENTS, preferring to show the world how much TESTOSTERONE that lacked than BRAINS they should have relished.
I was a kid, a twenty-something. The movie THE GRADUATE, (Once again Paul Simon’s musical genius) had been a popular, coming of age film, and the quotes… Mr. Robinson: I was just telling Ben here he ought to sow a few wild oats. Have a good time while he can. You think that's sound advice? Mrs. Robinson: Yes, I do AND… Mr. Maguire: There is a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it? Benjamin Braddock: Yes, I will. Mr. Maguire: Okay. Enough said. That's a deal.” ALL RESONATED and urged me to wonder WHY and HOW!
It is NOW oh soooooo many years later and what I once thought was just HISTORY, a drop in the bucket of time, never to haunt anyone again, seems to reappear…Racism, Hate, Misinformation, Greed are all CURRENT EVENTS. Paul Simon in 1972 was so correct in his lyrics, as were the Screenwriters of the Graduate, Buck Henry & Calder Willingham. And as then and now this final quote remains so important for me, Benjamin Braddock:” It's like I was playing some kind of game, but the rules don't make any sense to me. They're being made up by all the wrong people. I mean no one makes them up. They seem to make themselves up.”
