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I can't embed this video, so click on the link to hear the song.
I'm currently listening to this song in my car. I keep listening to this song as if it were a mantra, a sort of "what would you do" kind of song.
We're still in the pits of a down and dirty political campaign. We've now got proof of voter fraud and the State's Attorney and local Bureau of Investigation has opened a case, but will they be able to find enough proof to convict before the election? Is there any way, with the local paper in the back pocket of the corrupt administration to get this information to the voters before they vote for a candidate who has been lying to them and buying votes?
I know I'm old enough to have seen this all before and I really shouldn't be so affected by dishonesty and corruption, but yet I am. Each time I witness something like this, it's like someone has sucker-punched me in the gut. I am stunned at the audacity to cheat. Incensed at the arrogance that "this is just how it's done." Where did this Polly-Anna core in me come from? At age 45 I still expect everyone to be honest, to do the right thing, to play by the rules. Logically I know that they don't, so why do I continually expect it?
I know it's this core in me, this indignation, that makes me get in there and fight for change. And I know that is a good thing. There's this idealism in me that honestly believes, things won't change until good people stand up and demand change. And if I won't stick my neck out there and do it, how can I expect anyone else to?
It's funny. I think of these crooks as children and I wonder at their character then. Did they ever possess this core of honesty, this sense of right and wrong? Were they corrupted along the way? I want to ask these guys, "did you ever think when you were a child, that you would grow up to become one of the bad guys?"
Here are the some of the lyrics in the John Mellencamp song that speak to me:
Would you teach your children to tell the truth?
Would you take the high road if you could choose?
Do you believe you're a victim of a great compromise?
Cus I believe, you change your mind and change our lives.
Your life is now
Your life is now
Your life is now
In this undiscovered moment,
lift your head up above the crowd.
We could change this world,
if you would only show us how.
Your life is now.
Would you teach your children to tell the truth
This is your time here to do what you would do.