Repairing Our World with Flight 5191

I had planned to say something totally different, and in a similarly different tone, about the governor’s merit hiring settlement.

But I write this as I pray for the family and friends of loved ones lost on flight 5191, grateful that my itinerary called instead for the next flight through Cincinnati, on whose runway I now sit. My last trip was through Atlanta so I could just as easily have been among the dead or dying this ill-fated morning.

While I worried about who I may know aboard 5191 I realized that a co-worker may yet be on board and hoped beyond hope that he took a later flight instead (I later learned that he did).

I then wondered why the gates of our emotion should hinge so surely on our personal connections with those who pass on. After all, we are all brothers and sisters, and each life is equally precious. So while it is understandable that we feel more strongly about those who are close to us, familiarity is no pre-requisite for human empathy.

Thus does another catastrophe put in perspective the supposed hot issues of today, unmasking the truly trivial nature of our daily dramas. In this light the hiring debacle pales in importance.

This is to not to excuse either official mis-conduct or the all too prevalent political penchant for prioritizing greedy self-interest over our greater public interest. Rather it is to use this tragedy to direct our steps up a higher path, individually, and collectively.

Like 9/11 and hurricane Katrina, flight 5191 builds within our breasts a heartfelt human compassion--for the dead, for the grieving, and for each other. It may also leave us with a feeling of remorse as we perhaps regret the opportunities now forever lost to show our love, appreciation or kindly word to one we will never see again.

I recalled something I once heard about how much better our world would be were we to treat each other as if our next time together would be our last. As if we or they may be on the next flight 5191.

And it is by remembering this through all levels our community that we will repair our broken world.

Rfd 8/27/06

On Music Appreciation

A serendipitous sway shows the magic in the music we listen to today

What all started this whole train of musical appreciation thought was my 25+ year relationship with the fine folks at Hart Shaffner Marx’s designer suit division, the one that markets such suit labels as Kenneth Cole, Perry Ellis and Pierre Cardin.

A couple of years ago I was their guest for a Celine Dion concert at Caesar’s Las Vegas during the huge MAGIC menswear show.[1] Her incredible show began with the song Nature Boy, which I had vaguely remembered hearing sung by somebody, some long time back in my youth. My host told me the incomparable Nat King Cole first recorded this song, so when I returned home I bought the album, which I fished out and loaded in the sultry heat of my car while motoring around town today.

Now there are MANY musical masterpieces (and subjectively if any one person finds magic any music—yes, even, gangsta rap—then that music is for that person a masterpiece), but listening to the fluidly melodious voice of Nat King Cole, his accompanying orchestra and the arrangement on songs that defy the ages with familiarity made that word, “MASTERPIECE” bubble through my consciousness.

From “The Very Thought of You”, to “It’s Only a Paper Moon,” then “Route 66,” “Unforgettable,” and by “Mona Lisa” my spirits were soaring with appreciation for Mr. Cole, and for the power and magic of all and any music that can move our soul at any particular moment, mostly when we least expect it.

L is for the way you look at me O is for the only one I see V is very, very extraordinary E is even more than anyone that you adore can

You know, there are more than just the lyrics, the words and the voice that delivers them that creates the euphoric sensations we sometimes experience while listening to a song that strikes our soul. It is a micro-cosm of life, of all things working together in harmony that enables our enjoyment of, well, EVERYTHING.

Literally, everything, from the smallest toothpick to the most elaborate skyscraper--and even a little lily—is a culmination of hundreds, thousands of processes. Products come by an incredible series of human activity sharpened through centuries of building upon each prior generation’s progress and encompassing a worldwide network of people working together AS A TEAM. From the cultivators of raw materials, to the shippers, the designers, engineers, manufacturers, marketers, deliverers, maintainers and users it’s all one big harmonious interplay.

Just like the next song…”Don’t Get Around Much Anymore,”
♪ Missed the Saturday dance…Heard they crowded the floor…Couldn't bear it without you Don't get around much anymore…

And the next one… “Straighten up & Fly Right,”

The buzzard took the monkey for a ride in the air
The monkey thought that everything was on the square
The buzzard tried to throw the monkey off his back
The monkey grabbed his neck and said now listen, jack
Straighten up and fly right, Straighten up and fly right,Straighten up and fly right
Cool down, papa, don't you blow your top. (I love that line!)

And then my favorite, “Nature Boy,”[2] the haunting melody with the message of all that really matters:

There was a boyA very strange enchanted boy
They say he wandered very far, very farOver land and sea
A little shy and sad of eye But very wise was he
And then one dayA magic day he passed my way
And while we spoke of many things Fools and kingsThis he said to me
"The greatest thing you'll ever learn Is just to love and be loved in return"
"The greatest thing you'll ever learnIs just to love and be loved in return"

Again, the interplay of voice, of instrumentation, cadence and tempo create the finished product. And most important to our listening enjoyment are the sound engineers, the producers and the technology that allows me to motor around with music at my beck and call, recreating a 1948 performance as if they were performing for me alone. Incredible!

And “Unforgettable.” So “Smile.”


[1] The theatre, the lights, the setting and physical changes for each of her songs was 25th century spectacular, as was her whole concert…simply Unforgettably unbelievably great!

[2] Nature Boy was written by eden ahbez (he refused capitalization as he thought it reserved for the divine only), an unlikely source for one of the greatest songs of all time.

From the Wikipedia: eden ahbez, born Alexander Aberle (April 15, 1908 – March 4, 1995), and adopted by a Kansas family and raised under the name George McGrew, was one of the few genuinely unique characters of pre-rock American popular music.
Ahbez composed the song "Nature Boy" about friend and fellow freegan "Tribesman" Robert Gypsy Boots Bootzin, who was leading a lifestyle which strived to be all natural and Spartan.
Eden lived a bucolic life. He refused to use capital letters to spell his name. He travelled in sandals, camped out below the first L in the Hollywood sign above Los Angeles, studied Oriental mysticism, and cultivated a Christ-like appearance with his shoulder-length hair and beard. He claimed to live on three dollars a week, sleeping outdoors with his family, eating vegetables, fruits, and nuts.
In the mid-'50s, he did some recording with jazz musician Herb Jeffries; he also did some occasional composing and singing, sometimes for rock & roll novelty records. His most comprehensive statement as a recording artist, however, was the 1960 LP Eden's Island, a bizarre record which mixed exotica album and beatnik poetry. Many consider it as one of the weirdest exotica records ever created.
Ahbez was also photographed with Brian Wilson in the studio in 1966, lending further credence to the theory that the head Beach Boy was influenced by exotica during the Pet Sounds and Smile sessions. He died in 1995 after being hit by a car.

For even more about this incredible story and how he got his song to Mr. Cole you MUST read this: http://www.spaceagepop.com/ahbez.htm

Islam Falsely Accused

Before I eat another bite or take another breath I must correct a mis-characterization that if left to stand would sew ever more fear and hatred in our already compromised world. President Bush said in reference to the foiled London bomb conspiracy: “… this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation.”

He surely did not intend to disparage the Islamic faith or its adherents. Yet the effect of parroting a phrase so mindlessly repeated by many in the media is to unfairly condemn the Muslim world and in the process brand an entire religion as something that it most certainly is not

The truth is that yes, there are some people who want to commit heinous crimes against other people. In this case the alleged attackers were Pakistani British residents who were targeting passengers destined for America. Of course, those passengers would have included Muslim as well as Christian, and possibly Pakistani as well as American citizens.

Nevertheless, the high-profile nature of their crimes obscures the fact that they are but a tiny sub-sect of Islam. They in no way represent the mainstream body of faithful Muslims. Nor are they part of an alleged conspiracy for world domination for there simply is none.

This alleged plan is part of a self-fulfilling prophecy long enshrined in the concept of the “Clash of Civilizations,” first espoused by Samuel Huntington in 1993. While it is true that the effect of conflicts between the West and the Middle East are in that sense conflicts between two differing cultures, that is not the reason for such disputes per se.

The reason is as old as humanity itself: the quest for resources. The root cause of what they call “Islamic fascism” is not religious or cultural. Rather it is the incursions into the lands of those peoples, that to their sensibilities are dis-respectful, immoral and certainly done in a way that we would never tolerate in our own lands, thus violating the very heart of Christian ethics—do not unto others as you would not want done to yourself.

Islam is one of the three Abrahamic religions along with Judaism and Christianity. It has always been tolerant of these other religions, as the Koran teaches. Jewish citizens flourished under Muslim rule in Spain during the nearly 8 centuries of Moorish rule from 711 to 1492.
And you will find no greater praise for Jesus than in the Koran. In fact it esteems Jesus as the Messiah, the Word of God, God’s most enlightened and sinless prophet. For example:

· in Oud Emrom 5-45, Jesus is referred to as, "the greatest above all in this world and the world to come."

· S-5-46: "And, in their footsteps, we sent Isa (Jesus), the son of Marium (Mary), confirming the law that had come before him. We sent him the gospel. Therein was guidance and light, and confirmation of the law that had come before him. A guidance and an admonition to those who fear Allah (God)."


· 3.45: When the angels said: O Marium, surely Allah gives you good news with a Word from Him (of one) whose name is the '. Messiah, Isa son of Marium, worthy of regard in this world and the hereafter and of those who are made near (to Allah).

There is no conflict with Islam and those of other faiths. The heinous acts of those who see themselves as victims or fighting for victims do so in response to perceived injustices against them. As they perceive that more justice is shown to them—for instance, the ending of wars and dominations of their lands and the beginning of statehood for the Palestinians—the less mayhem they will attempt.

Remove the thorn to calm the lion.

Richard F. Dawahare 8/12/06