The Wisdom Of Billy Joel for the Progressive Heart

I've burned out a bit over the last few months (again).  It seems to be a recurring theme nowadays.

There's no place to discuss the necessary role of the public and our branches of government and what needs to be done. Almost as a necessity, I find myself drawn into the dogfight of getting the Republican party's stranglehold on our country broken.

I suffer through reading and hearing people who earnestly believe the talking points that come right out of Ken Mehlman's talking points memorandi.  (My favorite whipping boy on that one is "The Centrist Coalition" blog 'Centerfield')  These folks earnestly (important note there...sincerely, earnestly, honestly) believe some of the rhetoric and make some compelling arguments in its favor.  

I try to remind myself that this doesn't indicate the death of American compassion or leadership...it, instead, indicates that said American stature is snuffed and waiting for a fresh breath of oxygen to get going again.  

While out riding my bike this weekend I had a bit of an epiphany and wanted to share it (or at least ramble it out into 'print').

I want everyone out there to read along to a classic american 80's rock number...

"We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel (h/t to B. Joel's own site)

Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnny Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio

Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, Television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe

Rosenbergs, H Bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, The King And I, and The Catcher In The Rye

Eisenhower, Vaccine, England's got a new queen
Maciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc

Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dancron
Dien Bien Phu Falls, Rock Around the Clock

Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland

Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Khrushchev
Princess Grace, Peyton Place, Trouble in the Suez

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, Bridge On The River Kwai

Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California baseball
Starkwether, Homicide, Children of Thalidomide
Buddy Holly, Ben Hur, Space Monkey, Mafia
Hula Hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go

U2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, Psycho, Belgians in the Congo

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Hemingway, Eichman, Stranger in a Strange Land
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion

Lawrence of Arabia, British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson

Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British Politician sex
J.F.K. blown away, what else do I have to say

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, Terror on the airline
Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan

Wheel of Fortune, Sally Ride, heavy metal, suicide
Foreign debts, homeless Vets, AIDS, Crack, Bernie Goetz
Hypodermics on the shores, China's under martial law
Rock and Roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

This song covers some 40 YEARS of American life.  It touches on some of the darker moments of our past half-century and on some of the trivial.  It points out good things and bad things.  It's easy to get bogged down in arguing "well why'd he include THIS or THAT?"  

I'm not even going there.  Instead, I want everyone to back out with me...beyond the bark...beyond the trunks...beyond the trees..BIG PICTURE.

Put yourself in a reflective mindset and LOOK at what Billy is singing about...

Each and every generation has its dark moments.  Whether it be the urban jungle of the 1900-10's or the lynchings of the 20-50's...whether it be the mistreatment of Japanese-Americans in WWII or the Holocaust...if it was the McCarthyism of one generation, it was the Vietnam of another.  Our history is RIFE with things that would make an inveterate liberal/progressive hang their head in shame.

It is also chock full of things that make us proud.  The worldwide effort that whipped smallpox and polio...the United Nations...the Civil Rights victories of the 60s..the end of Apartheid...the rise of environmental awareness and controls...medicaid/care for the poor/indigent...etc.

I propose the following:  What this song REALLY tells us is that the world is full of things good and bad.  Many of these events are WAY beyond our ability to effect/control...but the world has always carried on; some way...some how.  It is up to the good-natured, whole hearted people of the world to provide compassion and care when it looks the worst.  It is up to us to BE the good we want to see.  

As dark as things look...we must believe that, deep down, people are people no matter where you go.  We must fight to keep the door open and not let the darkness of despair, hopelessness, nihilism, and anger shroud the light of life and love and happiness.

TAKE HEART, liberals, progressives, moderates, centrists, conservatives, apathetics (LOL)....

The world will soldier on..and all we can do is NOT give up on it.  That is, perhaps the hardest thing...finding a reason to live.  Go hug your loved ones...and if they're not handy, go hug some random stranger!  It may not be comfortable...but it's better than hugging yourself (er..at least I think it is)!

Good Luck!

•  Less well-known, more political

  Billy Joel lyrics:

  Some things were perfectly clear,
  seen with the vision of youth
  No doubts and nothing to fear,
  I claimed the corner on truth
  These days it's harder to say
  I know what I'm fighting for
  My faith is falling away
  I'm not that sure anymore

  Shades of grey wherever I go
  The more I find out the less that I know
  Black and white is how it should be
  But shades of grey are the colors I see

  Once there were trenches and walls
  and one point of every view
  Fight 'til the other man falls
  Kill him before he kills you
  These days the edges are blurred,
  I'm old and tired of war
  I hear the other man's words
  I'm not that sure anymore

  Shades of grey are all that I find
  When I look to the enemy line
  Black and white was so easy for me
  But shades of grey are the colors I see

  Now with the wisdom of years
  I try to reason things out
  And the only people I fear
  are those who never have doubts
  Save us all from arrogant men,
  and all the causes they're for
  I won't be righteous again
  I'm not that sure anymore

  Shades of grey are all that I find
  when I look to they enemy line
  There ain't no rainbows shining on me
  Shades of grey are the colors I see

  Shades of grey wherever I go
  The more I find out the less that I know
  There ain't no rainbows shining on me
  Shades of grey are the colors I see

  by SensibleShoes on Wed Sep 06, 2006 at 08:33:16 AM PDT

•  Been a Billy Joel fan since the time

  I first discovered his song "You're My Home" in the 70s. He was our "free" concert at Wittenberg U and played on the gymnasium stage there.

  It's nice to read a diary that shines a little bit of light on hope. Think I'll just tuck it right into this box I have here....

  by Pandoras Box on Wed Sep 06, 2006 at 08:42:37 AM PDT

•  We didn't start the fire

  it was always burning

  by floundericiousMI on Wed Sep 06, 2006 at 08:43:41 AM PDT

•  i always read that song differently

  as a sort of boomer whine - "it's not my fault! my parents started it, and now things are so bad i give up!"

  generally i've got a soft spot for billy joel, but that song always seemed a little bit chickenshit to me.

  by wu ming on Wed Sep 06, 2006 at 10:49:05 AM PDT

  •  for posterity

    I've got to answer this...

    That's why I say "back out to the 50,000 foot level" and look at what you see...

    by floundericiousMI on Thu Sep 14, 2006 at 12:23:12 PM PDT