Awareness

During my working career, most of the time I worked with people similar to myself: left-brain dominant, detail-oriented technicians, aka "nerds". Most of us took pride in being nerdy.

Every now and again, I came across someone different: a "big picture" guy. You probably know the type - they usually are in management, arrogant as hell in many cases, claiming to be focused on the important stuff, with no time for insignificant matters such as the details that nerds wallow in. Numbers people they are NOT.

Two four year old girls in my nursery school class were the best of friends. When one entered the room, the other would run to give her a big, welcoming hug. They managed to sit side-by-side throughout all activities and held hands when they walked around the room.

These girls were bright, creative and mature beyond their years. Every so often, something of interest would happen at home and they would turn this idea into a little two girl play.

These plays delighted me so much I’d stop what I was supposed to be doing and watch (from afar, of course).

It is popular among many people of my generation (that is, people in their 60's and 70's) to speak of their "spirituality". People like to claim that they are spiritual. I have even been described as spiritual myself, by a handful of my acquaintances, even though I espouse a strictly rational, science-based world view. I can accept this attribution only on the basis of a definition that I read somewhere recently: "religious people do as they are told to do, no matter what is right; spiritual people do what is right, no matter what they are told".

For me, the music of the Baroque era is one of the few things in life that make it worth living. The period from about 1650 to 1750 was when some of the most exquisite creations of human genius were crafted. I have enjoyed listening to Baroque music since I was a teenager.

The Baroque period was not limited to musical expression; it encompassed art and architecture also. The Baroque style is typified by ornate detail. It originated in the efforts of the Catholic Church to counter the Reformation and fight the growth of the Protestant church.

Introduction

While this song about the futility of war, was originally a Scottish dirge, I’ve adapted its melody with new words which are my opinion and expression of the futility of war
after my time and experience serving on 2 aircraft carriers, flying combat missions in Vietnam. I wasn’t the flyer, but I was part of the squadron.
One other point: the words “haru, haru,” which appear many times in the song are the Scottish equivalent of us saying “harah, harah” which the Irish version uses. And away we go.

Did you ever walk through a place and feel that it was watching you?

Like in the woods where you walk at the foot of tall trees, far out of reach above. And if you are really lucky, you come upon a sea of green moss, furry and emerald green, tinting everything it lays upon. Or you come upon a patch of bluebells covering the forest floor – just happening to be there.

   The actual song itself is available only in spoken form, as requested by Philip.

Response by John:

The last GEM you listened by Phil was entitled, A Married State of Mind.

I love the opera, a musical called Les Meserable.

In Les Meserable, there is a love story between Marius and Quisette.

And the song, these lyrics, while falling in love, says “I am lost’ and she says, “I am found.”

And that reminds me of the love between a man and a woman.

I am drawn to where the past lingers on, like Sturbridge Village Museum in Massachusetts, where people dress up in yesteryear clothes and character. It is truly amazing how these people fit their parts so well, as if being transported back 300 years.

Seeing the farmer in a long coat shepherding a flock of sheep thru the village green.

Seeing the potter casually spinning a clay pot.

Seeing the tinker making a lantern of tin or a candleholder of pewter.

Seeing how they cook in a hearth with an open fragrant log fire.