i don't know what i can do to help this situation, but it's a rough one. it deals with the adoption of a youth named Alex, and trying to get him out of his terrible life as a street child in Ethiopia. this has been on my friend Brittany's blog for a while...check it out.
http://intothedeep.wordpress.com/2007/05/19/emergency-appeal-for-alex-do-something-people/
peace and God bless,
Nick
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Can Music "Shine" Through Evil?
I'm writing from my dorm at 4 AM, a bit tipsy from the last weekend before the last finals of the year at ONU. I don't want to leave, and I've been avoiding thinking about the end of the year.
Anyway, I was on Youtube watching a live video of Collective Soul playing "Shine", and, reading the comments, I was informed of the following: Cho Seng-Hui, the psycho who committed the Virginia Tech shooting, listened to "Shine" on repeat incessantly.
Wow. This is really crushing and disturbing. This haunting, beautiful song and I go way back. I moved heaven and earth trying to get an MP3 in 2001, and when I finally got the album that year, the spring before eighth grade graduation, Ross Childress' ripping solo helped drive me to wanting to learn guitar.
How could someone like Cho draw affirmation for their evil self from such a beautiful song and/or be utterly unaffected by the song's overall message and music: "Heaven let your light shine down"? How the FUCK can someone have the idea that it's okay to cut 32 lives short and yet still want to hear "Shine" over and over? These kind of things sure challenge my core belief that music (and all art) can permeate the soul, drive out evil, and bring love.
This article in the Village Voice offers an excellent commentary on the whole situation.
http://www.villagevoice.com/blogs/music/archives/2007/04/collective_soul.php. Their conclusion is thus: like the innocence of a town or a "pre-tragedy" attitude, a song can be yet one more abstract "innocent casualty" of an overwhelming, horrifying event. This makes sense. Imagine: If I hit someone with my car while Van Halen's "Jump" were playing, that song would be over for me through no fault of Eddie and Diamond Dave.
I don't know how I'll regard "Shine" from now on, but I can say with fair confidence that for me, and that for 99.999% of people (ordinary citizens, spiritual warriors, and rock stars alike), a beautiful song is a little incongruous with murdering 32 innocent people.
I guess some .001% people are so twisted that their evil shell cannot be cracked, not by a song, not by anything in this earthly realm. But that still doesn't explain why Cho would want to hear this song.
P.S.
Speaking of the VT situation, it goes without saying to keep praying. And EVERYONE needs to see this memorial to the late students.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18143312/
Read the names and see the pictures. Make time to do this. Each and every one of these people deserves respect and a proper memory.
God bless,
Nick
Anyway, I was on Youtube watching a live video of Collective Soul playing "Shine", and, reading the comments, I was informed of the following: Cho Seng-Hui, the psycho who committed the Virginia Tech shooting, listened to "Shine" on repeat incessantly.
Wow. This is really crushing and disturbing. This haunting, beautiful song and I go way back. I moved heaven and earth trying to get an MP3 in 2001, and when I finally got the album that year, the spring before eighth grade graduation, Ross Childress' ripping solo helped drive me to wanting to learn guitar.
How could someone like Cho draw affirmation for their evil self from such a beautiful song and/or be utterly unaffected by the song's overall message and music: "Heaven let your light shine down"? How the FUCK can someone have the idea that it's okay to cut 32 lives short and yet still want to hear "Shine" over and over? These kind of things sure challenge my core belief that music (and all art) can permeate the soul, drive out evil, and bring love.
This article in the Village Voice offers an excellent commentary on the whole situation.
http://www.villagevoice.com/blogs/music/archives/2007/04/collective_soul.php. Their conclusion is thus: like the innocence of a town or a "pre-tragedy" attitude, a song can be yet one more abstract "innocent casualty" of an overwhelming, horrifying event. This makes sense. Imagine: If I hit someone with my car while Van Halen's "Jump" were playing, that song would be over for me through no fault of Eddie and Diamond Dave.
I don't know how I'll regard "Shine" from now on, but I can say with fair confidence that for me, and that for 99.999% of people (ordinary citizens, spiritual warriors, and rock stars alike), a beautiful song is a little incongruous with murdering 32 innocent people.
I guess some .001% people are so twisted that their evil shell cannot be cracked, not by a song, not by anything in this earthly realm. But that still doesn't explain why Cho would want to hear this song.
P.S.
Speaking of the VT situation, it goes without saying to keep praying. And EVERYONE needs to see this memorial to the late students.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18143312/
Read the names and see the pictures. Make time to do this. Each and every one of these people deserves respect and a proper memory.
God bless,
Nick
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