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You say you want a revolution?
By admin | June 29, 2008
“well you know, we all want to change the world..”
John Lennon seemed almost nonchalant in his song “Revolution.” The title hinted at radical thinking, but the lyrics were pretty benign. And even though John Lennon had the reputation as a radical at the time, I’m not so sure he really advocated revolution.
What does revolution mean to you? I saw a toothpaste commercial a while back that claimed the product had revolutionary whitening power. And there have been various revolutions in music. PBS had a mini-series a while back called “Musical Revolutions” devoted to Beethoven, Stravinsky, and Copland, highlighting what made their music so “revolutionary”…their work changed the way we appreciate and perceive music, and even refined, in some ways, what we consider music. Revolution implies an abrupt change. Jesus said the meek shall inherit the earth, and the Romans were not too thrilled at words like that. They feared a peasant uprising of sorts which would have threatened the Roman government, and certainly would have been quite revolutionary. I think Jesus was referring to a spiritual revolution of sorts, but many His accusers took his words quite literally.
But I’ve always been intrigued by the “revolving” part of revolution…Most people remain in the same social status for life. If they are born a peasant, they tend to remain that way, and those in power tend to pass that power down to their heirs…nothing really changes from generation to generation. But when a revolution happens, the order changes.
The line it is drawn The curse it is cast
The slow one now Will later be fast
As the present now Will later be past
The order is Rapidly fadin’.
And the first one now will later be last
In other words, those in authority will no longer be, and those who have no authority will be in charge. That is political revolution, and it can take place with or without violence and bloodshed. Also, I’ve seen rapid social change in my lifetime…certainly the civil rights movement was revolutionary. The leaders of many social type revolutions often advocate non-violent change.
There was a violent, bloody revolution that everyone who is a citizen of the US can relate to: The American Revolution, a radical political and social revolution where the old regime was overthrown and replaced with a new one.
John Killian writes in his blog: Between the dates of July 4, 1776 and September 3, 1783 a great hostility took place between the Colonies and Crown– a hostility called the American Revolution. During those years, 22,500 American soldiers were killed in action, 63,000 American soldiers died of disease, and 6,000 civilians were killed. Families turned against family, many lost their property and wealth due to support for the American Revolution as those who declared independence pledged lives, fortunes and sacred honor. Yet, against all odds, the rag-tag band of Americans won their independence against the greatest empire in the world, Great Britain.
And from that bloody revolution a new nation was forged: The United States of America. We did not inherit this land, we did not follow any rules laid out for us…we demanded to be free, and we forcibly took our freedom.
For he that gets hurt Will be he who has stalled
There’s a battle outside And it is ragin’.
It’ll soon shake your windows And rattle your walls “We The People”…the US government was now in authority, not Great Britain. I love the 4th of July. I sometimes wonder if the same revolutionary spirit that birthed this nation is still alive somewhere in the collective psyche of modern US society…or has longing for freedom something we read about in history books and no longer relate to. I’m always struck at young we are as a nation…will we continue to be a beacon of freedom, or will we eventually allow a powerful centralized government take us back to where we came from?
I pray that we do not forget, and we never lose that spirit that forged a new nation that stands for concepts foreign at the time: liberty, equality, justice. And as you celebrate the 4th of July this year and hear politicians talk of change, don’t forget those early radical revolutionaries that stood for something, and forced change.
Topics: Forrth of July, Politics, Ramblings |