:: forgiveness & love ::

I wrote this song following September 11th, 2001 and thought it might be appropriate to release now given the present worldwide mobilization for peace. In writing it, I thought a lot about the radical love and forgiveness taught by Jesus and the early Christian tradition as well as the principles of peace and justice that are at the roots of Islam; I thought about the frequent uses and misuses of religion, including the invocations that imply that God would somehow choose sides in a war.

As I'm no politician or scholar, I tried to explore my thoughts and feeling about these issues through music. Among the basic questions that I hope folks will think about, feel about and meditate on is whether the 21st Century is going to be any different than the 20th Century-- which was as murderous and oppressive as it was creative and technologically brilliant. Will we use all of our intelligence to eradicate or escalate warfare, hunger, disease and poverty? In what ways will each of us individually reconcile the undeniable fact that our lifestyles depend upon the suffering of others?

What would have happened if the U.S. as a nation focused on these questions after 9/11 instead of prioritizing revenge over healing?

I invite folks to enter into dialogues rooted in hope and aimed at understandings that go beyond partisan politics and fearful arrogance. And beyond listening to this tune or talking to friends, family and colleagues, I hope folks will check out some of the links below and take action.

uniteforpeace
moveon
truemajority
notinyourname
future500

Thanks to Maverick Records for making this available as a free MP3.

As the Parliament-Funkadelic tune goes, "Think, think, it aint illegal yet!" Life is a gift."

— Meshell

meshell's "forgiveness & love"
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