16
Apr

Not This Again

Written by Don Reid. Posted in General

            The explosions; the smoke and residue; people running – not knowing from what and not knowing to where.  The streets of Boston yesterday reminded me way too much of the streets of New York nearly twelve years ago.  My first reaction was shock; then disbelief; sadness; then anger.  Then I finally had the good sense and frame of mind to just sit down and pray for all of those who were injured, physically and emotionally, and especially for those who had lost their lives.  The scars of the family and friends of each of these will last for years and lifetimes.  The effect on our nation will be forever.

            We each have our way to mourn.  And those in the public eye sometimes have to make a quick decision which way is best for them.  If they choose the wrong one they will be ridiculed for years; if they choose the right way, they’ll be viewed as having a good and sincere nature. Being an entertainer at heart, I thought about the live-to-tape daily television shows and how they might handle it.  Would they cancel their shows in deference to the tragedy or go on with business as usual?

            Letterman, Leno and Fallon were on vacation and in reruns so there was no decision to be made.  But all the others – Conan O’Brien, Craig Ferguson, Jimmy Kimmel and Ellen DeGeneres addressed the situation either before or after the entertainment started.  Dancing With The Stars host Tom Bergeron – live from Hollywood – also acknowledged the people of Boston.  I was happy and proud of the way the entertainment industry reacted and involved itself.

            When the towers fell in 2001, we were on our tour bus on the way west to a series of late summer fairs.  When we arrived in Hutchinson, Kansas on September 12, we were prepared to cancel the date in honor of the horror that was consuming the entire country.  But it wasn’t our call.  Most all of our concert dates were our own and self-promoted so we had total autonomy over whether the show would go on or not.  But these were fairs and we were under contract to the state and the fair boards.  It was their call and their call was that you can’t postpone a State Fair.  They insisted we go on and we did.

            I remember just walking out and talking to the full house who had shown up as if in need of diversion.  I told them we didn’t want to be there and didn’t want to be doing this but then maybe this is what we all needed to be doing.  We sang a few songs and talked some more.  We eased into some comedy and finally hit a stride of escapism and a spirit of heart that was good for all of us on the stage and all of the folks in the audience.

            It isn’t always easy to know the right thing to do, but when you do it, you know it’s the right thing.  America will do it and it will be right and strong and we will prevail.

            I’m still in shock.  The sadness has not subsided.  I will pray for those in need.  I will pray that we capture those responsible.  And then I’ll work on praying for those responsible.  That may not come today because I’m just too human.  God knows that I don’t always come around as quickly as I should when it comes to seeking grace for the perpetrators.

I’ll get there, I hope, but today, I’m still angry. 

 

                                                 DSR

                                                4/16/13

23
Mar

A Palm Sunday – Techno Revelation

Written by Don Reid. Posted in General

What is a Palm Sunday-Techno Revelation?  Well, let me start back a few years.

I was about fifteen years old and was watching the Tonight Show.  Walter Pidgeon, that’s Mr. Miniver for you old Hollywood fans, was a guest.  Being a serious actor, he didn’t sing or dance or tell jokes, so he was asked to recite his favorite poem.  He did in a very dramatic way and I was “glued to the tube” and had tears in my eyes when he finished.  After getting over the initial performance and message of the piece, all I could remember about it were the final two lines.  They had such an impact on me I couldn’t get them out of my head.  From what I could recall, I had to assume the name of the poem must be something about a donkey….or something about Palm Sunday….or something about…well, I was lost.  How could I ever find a poem when I didn’t know what the title was?

This scant information didn’t keep me from looking.  I searched every book of poems I came across for decades.  Being a frequent visitor to old bookstores and antiques shops, I pulled every dust-covered volume from every shelf for years and looked through the pages, always hoping that wonderful old poem would jump out at me.  But it wasn’t until nearly thirty years from first hearing it that I had any luck.

I was in a used bookstore in Milan, Tennessee, Debbie’s hometown, 25 years ago and picked up a ragged old book of poetry.  I ran my thumb down the index pages and suddenly there it was!  The Donkey by G.K. Chesterson.  My heart was racing so fast at the thought of finally finding this treasure I could barely whip the pages back to page 401.  But when I did, I stood there and read for the first time the words of Walter Pidgeon that had been ringing in my head for a score and ten years.  (See how the poetry has affected me?)

I bought the book and it is on the shelf in a special place in my office right this minute.  Each year I read that little four-stanza poem to the Sunday school class I teach.  (They’re probably sick of it by now and dread to see me pull it out.)  Well, just moments ago, as I was finishing up the lesson for tomorrow morning at the computer, I told myself not to forget to take the poem.  But instead of getting up and walking all the way across the room for the book, I simply stayed in my seat and typed in THE DONKEY.  Immediately the words of that old, once- lost poem filled the screen.  Thus the title of this piece, Palm Sunday- Techno Revelation.

What took me half a lifetime to find can now be found in seconds.  If only I had had a computer to turn to when I was fifteen, I would never have had to spend so much time on the search.  But then I had a lot of fun looking.  And thanks to Walter Pidgeon, G.K. Chesterson and that glorious old donkey, I’m a better man for it.

 

                                         Saturday March 23, 2013

                                          DSR