THIS POST IS IRRELEVANT TO THE THEME OF THIS BLOG

Dear Friends:

There is virtue and great learning in irrelevancy. It is ironic that what we once thought to be irrelevant becomes relevant as soon as we have experienced it; it is an irony meant to paired with another -- that we find many things when we think that we are lost.

Here goes:

The song, Travelling Boy, was written and originally performed by prolific popular songwriter Paul Williams. He performed it in the key of D Major, principally accompanied by very rudimentary piano chording. Sadly, Paul Williams wrote a song with inherent beauty in it beyond his ability to express... at least at that time in his career. His version follows for your study and pleasure:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj2Xkvr31H8

Art Garfunkel's cover of the same song was much kinder, and the true depth and true human beauty of the seemingly simple lyrics and gospel-based chording (i.e. A Major, to A Major with a G in the bass leading to an F# Minor 7th) rendered far more touching. The inherent loneliness that remained in the wake of the parting of these two strangers (the story in the song's lyrics) brought together by circumstances both kind and cruel created an ache inside of me that told me that the song was somehow magical, as if drifting in the ether and searching for the right singer to afford it worthy expression. Be patient with the video which follows...after a fashion, Art Garfunkel's voice comes shining through (it is the second song featured, and only as a snippet). He performs it in G Major. Listen to the entire video for his return with the balance of the song. The video is not in English, but my gamble is that you will understand it fully. It is poignant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sicNCpYqKU

An aside: Interestingly, Paul Williams also wrote Let Me Be The One, which was popularized by Karen Carpenter. The following is a video of Paul Williams (many years later), performing the song and accompanying himself on the piano. It is amazing how the years have mellowed his voice and revealed his heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQw9XccE5Ew&feature=related

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle



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9/11

Dear Friends:

I do not want to discuss 9/11.

I lost several acquiantances in that single day. I have three friends (two of whom visited with me last night) who were in those buildings and suffer recurring nightmares and incurable anxiety. It was more than a tragedy...it was a formal end to the notion of democracy and constitutionality in the United States. It was the end of everyone's youth. It might have been a harbinger of the Apocalyse that John wrote about while in prison. I remember the stink of the asbestos dust and of molten metal. Molten metal smells a bit like blood, but sharper.

It was a windfall for a handful of political power-seekers and other parasitic subspecies. It made entire careers, reputations, political platforms and giant business contracts possible for some, and even spawned at least one new government agency.

For me, 9/11, and its reactive aftermath were, and continue to be, a test of my faith in every person and in every institution. In every basic value. In every supposition we take for fact. In the very notion of "freedom." In the idea of exactly what constitutes "the greater good" or the "lesser of two evils". In the notion of what "terrorism" is, and what a "dictatorship" actually is.

To all of you, I say only this:

Test your faith. Walk in the shadow of doubt. Ask questions. Don't always expect honest answers. And if you should stumble upon the truth, either through someone's indiscretion, or through someone's desperate need to be relieved of the horrible burden that attaches to knowing about an inhuman atrocity perpetrated by human beings, try not to run away in denial like a frightened child. Try to remain standing. Like an indestructible edifice against the sky.

If you would like to be riveted, and to be tested, watch this clip through to the end. I do not endorse it, nor can I attest to any of its veracity.

http://zeitgeistmovie.com/

I make no judgments. I offer no truth or answers. I believe that lies are best told (and most easily believed) when inserted into truths....when interdispersed with proven facts...and when told to people who are in a state of acute panic and desperation. I have seen, in a rare moment of insight that is impossible to explain, or to prove, what I believe faces us -- not as a prophet, but merely as a man. It is difficult to live with my own fears and my own beliefs.

I know this: I do not feel any safer, and I never will again.

I have nothing to say about 9/11.

___________________________________________________
And now we return to our usual program:

Please go to the LINKS section of this blog, and click away. You'll find a batch of new articles to inform you, to challenge you and (most of all) to engage you.

Faithfully, and Semper Fi,

Douglas Castle

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