December 18, 2010 archive

Some of you may recall this writer’s January 15, 2010 essay, entitled, Original v. Cover — #8 of a Series, which was in part a tribute to the life of Martin Luther King, Jr.  The song was Sam Cooke’s anthemic “A Change is Gonna Come”, which received some recognition when it was posthumously released, but has since become recognized as one of the most significant songs of the 20th century.  

If any song could serve as a sequel, this week’s selection, released two years later in 1965, might well be the odds on favorite.  Like Cooke’s masterpiece, one cannot listen to this song without something stirring deep within ourselves.  

It is becoming that time of year again.

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, etc…which, if you have a place to eat and money to purchase food, actually might mean something.  But not all of us are so lucky.

What I am reminded of each year are the times when I myself was homeless…in Seattle and San Francisco and Tuscon and Tyler, TX…and in order to have a holiday meal, had to turn to a mission of some sort, being the only types of homeless shelter available at the time.

But times have changed, a bit.  There are now non-religiously affiliated shelters in many locales.

Not that the religious ones were all that bad…as long as one remembered the main credo:  

You have to listen to the Word if you want to eat the bird.

It is in one of these missions that I finally learned that I could no longer call myself a Christian.  The answers to the questions I put to the preacher were just insufficient for me.