close your eyes to the lullabyes

In the crowded amphitheatre tonight I listened to Jack Johnson singing ..... "ain't there nothing sacred anymore" ... and watched the four boys in front of me pass a joint.

Earlier in the day, I had been driving and watched the sign on the bank change from the time to temperature and then something about homeloans, and next to a phrase that charged my mind,

"we never forget...."

Then completely, uncharacteristically I began to cry, as I thought of "we will never forget" the all too familiar phrase of September 11th. I was overwhelmed with the pain experienced by so many, by the battle that continued to rage on, and the lack of closure in the common statement, never forget. But more than anything, what caused my sadness was the power of one person to cause pain, injury, death to so many people. The power of one to do so much harm. I wondered if we also posses as much power to do good, but couldn't get past the amount of pain brought on by so few. The bank sign changed and stopped my reflection for a moment,

".... who keeps us in buisness"

Yesterday, President Bush had come to Salt Lake to speak at a Vets convention, and our mayor had called for citizens to rallye in a park to protest the war, which Bush explained the need for its extension in his speech. The protest gleaned a surprising number of supporters. People advocating for peace.

Today, I went about my day, ending in the concert, sitting in traffic on the way to and from the moonlight amphitheatre. 20,000 people were in the audience.

"who's the one to decide that it would be alright to put the music behind the news tonight?"