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No Water in Gaza, a Song by Luke Austin Daugherty #freepalestine
I woke up on July 16th and saw the news of the killings of Palestinian civilians at a humanitarian water distribution point in Nuseirat Camp. Six thirsty children were among the lives destroyed. As a parent who has lost a child, it broke my heart as does all news from Gaza. I started writing a song about the killings and the tragedy immediately in my mind while taking a morning shower and continued writing it all day. Over the next few days, I worked on the accompanying music for, No Water in Gaza. Hoping the song could make some kind of a small difference, I intended to get a decent recording and post it asap.
Yesterday afternoon, I found an old Ephiphone classical guitar at a local thrift store, missing one string. As I tuned and strummed it at the Goodwill, it felt like the right guitar to use for the song. After stopping at Arthur’s Music Store for new strings on the way home, I stringed the guitar, and recorded the song on a cell phone unplugged in our living room right away. I cannot wait for studio time or a “perfect” recording. The tragic reality in Gaza is too crucial to wait. Thank you for listening to No Water in Gaza. Please share the song, raise awareness of the genocide in our own times, and do what you can, even if it seems very small. -Luke
Images used via Fair Use for education.
59 Missiles Falling and My Funny Valentine
59 Missiles Falling and My Funny Valentine, an original poem by Luke Austin Daugherty- Copyright 2017, All Rights Reserved on words and picture.
A Prayer to My Countrymen in Ugly Times
My friends in the USA, there is so much ugliness being shoved in our faces on a national level at the moment… the ugliness of injustice, murders, racism, etc. (not to mention the social polarity brought on by the current election cycle). Unfortunately, that ugliness is real. It seems overwhelming. Still, it MUST, in its varied forms, be addressed and hopefully corrected, systemically from the top down and from the ground up.
BUT, there is still so much beautiful going on around us. You won’t much see it on the news, you won’t much hear about it on the radio. In this present America, you have to tune your attention to it as an act of will. Just walking around in Indianapolis with my kids yesterday, I saw the beautiful at work in my fellow humans, ordinary humans, on the streets, and we were able to be a part of it. It wasn’t in everyone, but it was in most people. My kids and I also got to be part of an amazing moment between several of us. It wasn’t a planned “event.” Just humans being humans to one another. Friends were made of strangers, and those strangers were not even the same color. Personal stories, help, and hopes were exchanged. No hashtags or clickbait articles were necessary to make it happen. Only beating human hearts and willing minds. It gave me some real hope for humanity in the day to day, at ground level.
That said, this is my admonition, first to myself and then to my friends. Hell, even as I secular person I don’t mind calling it a “prayer”… a prayer that WE will have to answer ourselves: Please don’t let the ugliness that dwells in some places and in some people around you turn YOU ugly in spirit. Yes, stand for the right and against the wrong. Speak and act (peacefully) against it. Yet, never forget that there is more light shining through we who are good than darkness manifesting through those who are bad. Don’t let the darkness of “them” dim the light of “us.” The “us” who are found among all colors, creeds, and countries. If ever we needed to be, we need to be countrymen, fellow citizens, friends, and most of all, lovers of one another in this present day. In the words of my mom to me as a young boy, “Be careful that you do not become what you hate in this world.” One of the hardest things in this life is to have your heart broken, but not let it then turn into fractured stone.
There are some in this country who have the desire to fracture us all like broken glass along the contrived lines of their own selfish agendas. They hope to set us against one another via racial, political, gender, and ideological lines. That makes us weak and them strong. But, we must be countrymen and we must care for one another. We must care about our real flesh and blood fellow citizens above our own subjective ideologies. Please, tune your ears to the frequency of the common humans around you. Their hearts are beating a beautiful song. Let your own heart sing along. -Luke
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Thank you for reading and sharing! I am an independent poet, author, and singer/songwriter and I have my own ebay business to keep me as flexible as possible. But, writing takes time and if you appreciate what I do, if you have been moved or made to think by my writing, OR have just enjoyed something on my blog, please throw a buck or two in my tip jar!
Your kind contribution may buy me a cup of coffee out at my next writing session. Click my easy paypal “tip jar” link that follows and THANKS! -Luke
Your kind contribution may buy me a cup of coffee out at my next writing session. Click my easy paypal “tip jar” link that follows and THANKS! -Luke
Luke Austin Daugherty 