October 11, 2021
“The Times they are a Changin’”
By Jim Culp
A grammatically correct sentence? A warning?
Neither…it was a song written, played, and sung by my favorite poet, Bob Dylan.
When Mr. Zimmerman wrote these lyrics in 1965, the USA was a very different
place than it is today. JFK was gone, and LBJ took his place as POTUS. Malcom X
was murdered, and the funeral of Winston Churchill drew a crowd of over 300,000
people. Vietnam was in its latter stages, but still cranking out dead US
servicemen by the minute. Bob Dylan
wrote songs that came from his heart, and songs that many parents (including
mine) would just as soon never let their children hear. That were songs that
questioned the establishment, pissed off the preachers, and talked about
poverty and homelessness. Other songs a sang a different tune, and that tune
was about having someone to talk to. You know, someone who not only cares, but
has at least some mileage on the track of life that you were on at some point.
A friend like that is a rare gift indeed, and life only deals you so many of
them, like aces in poker.
In these troubled times, we face so many obstacles.
COVID, a government with cranial rectitis; half a billion people that could
care less about their fellow human beings, the planet that they live on, or the
air that we breathe. On my fifth day of COVID, there was a phone call from one
of my oldest brothers. It was a welcome ring. The brother I speak about goes
back with me all the way to my early days in the Republic of Korea (May of
1985). We talked the better part of two hours. This is a precious commodity
that some people know nothing about, and some that probably never will. Someone
that has experiences with you (or similar to you) for 36 years is something
that can never be replaced. When they tell you that their knees hurt, or their
fingers aren’t working, you know right away want they mean, because you pulled
the same pin, lifted the same bridge, or fired the same gun. My day went so
much better after that. Life goes on.
Bob was so right. The Times they are a changing’,
and I ain’t so sure for the better. Hold on to the things that are precious to
you. You know, like Smeagol and the Ring... just kidding. Friends, brothers,
and family are eternal. Don’t pass up a day to let them know you care. Tomorrow
is never promised.
Cheers-
-Jim
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