Steve Griffiths rewords a Bob Dylan classic - a reflection on our crazy times where injustice and hatred seem to fuel political careers.
Author: Steve Griffiths
We live in strange and difficult times. Many of us feel disenchanted and disempowered as we watch our rulers fuel their political campaigns with lies and hatred. Yet, as always, the truth is still out there. Love, justice and respect remain possibilities. We can choose to act different; we can choose to think differently. Perhaps it would be helpful to revisit the passions and optimism of 50 years ago.
Here Steve Griffiths revisits a classic anthem of the 1960s:
How many words must a rich man buy
Before he owns what you feel?
How many truths must explode in your face
Before you beg for a meal?
Yes 'n' how many seeds can you strip from the land
Before the land cannot heal?
The answer, my friend, is rotting in the Sun,
The answer is rotting in the Sun.
How many jobs will be sold far away
To those who'll undercut you or die?
How many pockets are filled while you work,
Getting rich without needing to try?
How many lives will the media destroy
Before the rivers of kindness run dry?
The answer my friend, is howlin' in the wind,
The answer is waiting on the wind.
How many services will close or be sold,
Before you notice you're old?
How many deaths will it take till you know
That the pride of the world has grown cold?
How many futures must fade for your kids
Till you wake and complain you weren't told?
The answer my friend, is blowin' through the Times,
The answer is nothin' in the Times.
How many migrants must you curse on the screen
Before you become what you hate?
How many glaciers must fall to the sea,
Before you find out that it's late?
Yes 'n' how many people must walk by your side
Before you sieze your own fate?
The answer my friend, is step up to the plate:
The answer is step up to the plate.
The publisher is the Centre for Welfare Reform.
Blowin' in the Wind © Steve Griffiths 2017 (adapted from Bob Dylan's original)
All Rights Reserved. No part of this paper may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher except for the quotation of brief passages in reviews.
