One of the most profound songs from my lifetime, which has now spanned more than 67 years, is Wake Up Everybody by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. The first stanza lyrics go as follows:
Wake up everybody no more sleeping in bed,
No more backward thinking, time for thinking ahead,
The world has changed so very much,
From what it used to be
There is so much hatred, war and poverty.
This song was written in 1975. And just like Marvin Gaye’s timeless recording, What’s Going On from 1971, it seems like nothing much has improved in almost 50 years. Russia has invaded Ukraine. Israel continues its assault on the people of Palestine, and the US of A is being undermined by a political party that is deranged and determined to destroy the very fabric of her democratic foundations. Wake Up, EVERYBODY!
Former POTUS Trump is doing his best to deflect and distract any attention away from the financial crimes he is being charged with, and the cronies who threw rose petals at his feet the past 6 years are seeking to distance themselves from him, albeit a little too late, in my estimation.
Yet, it may not matter, if one Vladimir Putin is thwarted by the forces that are rallying to support the people and government of Ukraine. Might he be this century’s madman, who is willing to detonate nuclear bombs to secure victory? And then, because I do believe he is like a rat that has been cornered, send the world into a nuclear war, and global extinction. Dictators like Mussolini, Stalin, Bush and Putin know only one way, and that is forward. Their “porcelain brittle” egos cannot fathom the thought of losing. And thus, are willing to go “all-in” with the fate of humankind at stake. Wake UP! Everybody!
Once again, I must implore those of us in this fragile nation of yet-to-be-united states DEMAND the right to cast our votes as citizens. The White nationalists who are doing their best to create barriers to that Constitutional right will stop at nothing to ensure they remain in their seats of power and influence; on local school boards, city/county commissions, state and national governments. It is our DUTY to unify and vote them out and elect people who will place the good of our community above corporate interests. Wake Up, Err’body!
This is our generations’ Selma. This is our time to shout, “We shall not be moved.”
What we are witnessing in Ukraine by a mad man consumed by power…is exactly what Donald Trump had in mind for our Nation, had he won the election in 2020. Do NOT be naïve. His relationships with Russia, North Korea and the Philippines tell you what his aspirations are for his legacy. POWER.
If the past two years have shown us nothing else, it has revealed the collective POWER We The People have. To force employers to admit that your job can be done remotely. That our environment can be reset when we stop driving so much and polluting the air. That our quality of life is improved when parents have more time at home with their family. We cannot go back to “normal” which is to go back to sleep.
Wake Up, And Stay Woke!
Peace.
The Traveler Weekly 