The Meeting

Happy Earth Day

Soldier of Love

In honor of the release of Sade's new album Soldier of Love I felt like I should express a commentary on the lead single from the album.

I feel that the song has a really deep meaning and I wanted to share with you guys the meaning that I get from the song when I hear it. As always feel free to comment and leave your own interpretations of the song...my commentary is italicized between the actual lyrics.

I've Lost the use of my heart

It's hard for me to love in a world filled with hate

But I'm still alive

Despite the fact that I'm surrounded by hate, I'm still here

Still looking for the life

Still searching for this so-called promised life 

The endless pool on the other side

The eternal life on the other side

It's a wild wild west

America and Europe are both considered western civilizations

I'm doing my best

I'm doing my best to stay alive in the wild west, a society filled with lies, corruption, hatred, deceit and all things evil

I'm at the borderline of my faith,

I'm beginning to question my faith, because nothing is changing for the better, only getting worse

I'm at the hinterland of my devotion

My devotion is wearing thin

In the frontline of this battle of mine

Everyday is a constant battle and my faith and devotion are withering

But I'm still alive

But yet, I'm still alive 

I'm a soldier of love.

I will always be on the side of love, on the side of good, not evil, for all of humanity
Every day and night
I'm soldier of love
All the days of my life

Until I die, I will be a soldier of love

I've been torn up inside (oh!)
I've been left behind (oh!)

I have been through so so much
So I ride
I have the will to survive

But the love I have for myself and for the GOD within me has willed me to survive in this chaos that we call life

In the wild wild west,
Trying my hardest
Doing my best
To stay alive

I am love's soldier!

I wait for the sound
(oooh oohhh)

I know that love will come (that love will come)
Turn it all around

Love will return to my people one day and things will change
 

I'm a soldier of love (soldier of love)

I am a soldier of GOD because GOD=LOVE
Every day and night

I'm a soldier of love
All the days of my life

I am lost

I admit, I am lost sometimes
But I don't doubt (oh!)

But I don't doubt the power of love
So I ride

I believe
I have the will to survive

In the wild wild west,
Trying my hardest
Doing my best
To stay alive

I am love's soldier!

I am GOD's soldier!!

I wait for the sound

I'm waiting for the REVOLUTION

I know that love will come
I know that love will come
Turn it all around

LOVE will come and turn this mess all around!

I'm a soldier of love
I'm a soldier

Still waiting for love to come
Turn it all around
(4x)

I'm a soldier of love
I'm a soldier

Still waiting for love to come
Turn it all around
(3x)

Still waiting for love to come

Still waiting for the rest of you to wake up and realize that the love starts with us and if you want to see a change, there will have to be a revolution...we musn't be afraid...one person can't do it alone...we're so screwed up we don't even know what a world filled with love, instead of hate, would be like...we can't even imagine it...I do know one thing though, I'd be willing to fight and die to ensure that my children would grow up in a world much better than the one we live in today...so are you a soldier of love?

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this song...DEEP!!

Interesting...

The Longer I Live, The More I Understand.......By B. Chambers

     I once heard Richard Pryor, in one his routines say, “You don’t get to be old being a fool!” Unfortunately I now believe the opposite is true. You don’t get to old being a wise man. Let me tell you what I mean.
     For my young brothers and sisters reading this blog I’ve been around a little longer than you which means I have seen and heard more than you. I’ve seen dogs let loose on our women and children. I know what it is like not to be able to go into a movie theater because of the color of your skin. I lived through the riots and saw the “for colored only” signs. I saw the segregated schools and department stores and the assassination of King, Kennedy and Malcolm. I’ve seen my uncles, aunts, grandparents, and cousins, etc., get together at a family gathering only to be fighting and threatening to kill each other after a couple hours of drinking.
     I have also seen us sticking together as a people (Black People). I’ve seen us living together in a poor environment (the projects) and helping each other; Living together as a true community. Most of us didn’t have anything but we shared what we had. I’ve also seen a lot more; I just want you to understand where I'm coming from.
     Now, to my point. As I have gotten older things have started to become clearer to me. I regret that this has taken so long. You see, I now realize that I have grown old being a fool. If I was a wise man things in my life and my family’s (my black people) lives would be a lot different. As an example we would not be killing each other, beating and abusing our sisters/brothers, our babies wouldn’t be having babies; Black people wouldn’t be at the bottom of the totem pole, as they say, around the world and nigger wouldn’t mean a thing to us. Just to name a few things that would be different if I was a wise man.
     Fortunately, I still have the greatest gift our Father gave us and that’s my mind. So I have to start using my mind. I need to be more analytical. I need to be more like Mr. Spock (Star Trek) and think logically. Use my mind to interpret the data coming from my five senses.
     Knowing what I know a wise man would have acted differently. I do know that I haven’t seen any progress for my people during my life time. For any Black man to say that we have made progress in our life time makes him a fool. All we have gotten is a promise! A promise that if you are a good nigger (which in Greek means something dead) and do as you are told then you will live forever in heaven with Jesus. I know some will say we have more opportunities now as a people then we have ever had. My response: For being a good nigger! As you can see I haven’t buried the word because I am being honest with my self. There is no way we can call ourselves Black men and women because we are nothing like the original black Kings and Queens that once walked this earth. If we were like them, I would have never seen the things I have seen and still see in my community and in the world. If our ancestors saw us today, they would be ashamed. And since we’re not true Black men and Women then what does that make us?? Dead….A Nigger! No one wants to be Black. We’re at the bottom of the barrel around the world, Period! How dare we call ourselves Black men and women?
     When I look at Haiti I ask myself questions like, is God in control? Is God the all knowing and all wise? Is he all caring and loving? Does anything happen without it being his will? If the answer is yes to these questions then it begs the question is God messed up OR are we messed up? If God is God than he caused the earthquake bringing all of the suffering and death we now see in Haiti. So if we’re not the ones messed up, which I believe that we are, then God has to be the one messed up and just gets pleasure out of seeing us suffer.
     You don’t get to be old in this system being a wise man. You might just reach a hundred being a fool. We need to see this world for what it is and stop lying to ourselves. Just think, if we didn’t believe in the promise (Heaven) we would have to admit to ourselves that we were afraid OR we would do something about our situation.
     What I’m going to do and what I’m also asking you to do is let your mind grow. Let it guide you by keeping it real. I would rather go with what is logical than with a promise for the unreal or unproven. Death for sure will come to us all but why surrender your life only to become one of the living dead, because you are afraid to die? You don’t get to be old being a wise man because a wise man would rather die than to live as a slave or a nigger.

Oh, Now You Care About Haiti??

Why did it take a natural disaster for us to notice a country that was so poor and desolate before? This is a question that had been on my mind since the earthquake happened. When I noticed that other people were thinking the same thing I just knew I had to write about it and get my thoughts out on paper. First let’s explore a brief history of Haiti.

Christopher Columbus stumbled upon Haiti during his voyage to the “new world” in 1492. Just like the Native Americans, the indigenous people (called the Taino Indians) welcomed the Spaniards with open arms.  But in typical European fashion, they violently tried to convert the people to Christianity. It is estimated that several million indigenous people inhabited the island before the Spaniards invaded. By 1550 only 150 of these people remained! Forced labor, abuse, diseases against which the Tainos had no immunity, and the growth of the Mestizo (mixed European and Tainos) population all contributed to the elimination of the Taino and their culture. The island was eventually taken over by Spanish rule and because it lacked natural resources, it became an agricultural training ground for the slaves that were being imported from Africa.  Like most of the Caribbean islands, it was a drop off point of the slave trade.

Skip ahead a few hundred years to colonization and the French have taken over the island. The French maintained the colonial hold over Haiti until a slave rebellion in 1791. Haitians declared their independence in 1804. This independence, however, led to decades of instability for the Haitian government. Unable to enter into the global economy because of their lack of a natural resource for Europeans and Americans to exploit, left this country beyond poor.

Fast forward to today. Is it just a coincidence that the top poorest countries in the world are African, or of African descent? According to nationmaster.com, Haiti is the third poorest country in the world! So my question again, why did it take a natural disaster for us to notice a country that was so poor and desolate before the disaster occurred? I guess when they were just poor and struggling to survive it was ok. Or now you are pretending to care, because the whole world is watching (talking to American/European governments). 

Or let’s take this even deeper, if God is all powerful, all knowing, all wise, etc., HE knew this was going to happen right? Better yet, HE made this happen, right? So the question then becomes, why would HE allow this to happen? Either one of two things: Either HE is really messed up OR we are. Which one do you think it is? 

This is our wake-up call people. He keeps telling us to wake up and we just shake our heads and say, “that’s a shame” or we donate money or we say a prayer.  Why are we saying prayers? God already knows, HE made it happen! He is talking back to you! Open your eyes to the reality of this world. A change has to happen and God keeps calling on us to make that change, but we sit paralyzed in fear waiting for our so called leaders to stop pulling the wool over our eyes. We keep sending “up” prayers and God keeps giving us our answer. He’s been talking, the tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, and now this earthquake.  He’s calling on us to make the change. One person can’t do it alone, but if we all come together…

In light of the situation, I can’t help but think about MJ’s song “They Don’t Really Care About Us”. When Jackson began releasing songs like this one, speaking on world issues, the media (the powers that be, because they control everything we see and hear) began to turn us against Michael. The video for this song, which was hardly played in the U.S., was shot in Rio de Janeiro and Salvador. State authorities tried to ban all production over fears the video would damage their image, the area and their prospects of hosting the Olympics. Still, the residents of the area were happy to see the singer, hoping their problems would be made visible to a wider audience….