Hearts That Bleed Sing Folk Songs

I reflected today on the meaning of the phrase ‘bleeding heart’ that’s been attributed to liberals. I don’t see how all hearts aren’t bleeding in some ways, if not hemorrhaging, despite the complexity of the issues. With all the deaths, fear, divisiveness, and the tension building to election day…

Perhaps it sounds naive to suggest that we vote with our hearts, but I know I’m not alone when I admit that when I cast my ballot I was filled with tears. Of what? Maybe the momentousness of partaking in something that people gave their lives for the right to do. The unspoken ceremony of it, voting is woven into the fabric of the idealistic society our founders built. How can we not put our hearts into it?
Sigh … I know, I know, us bleeding heart liberals can be looked at with disdain, I can feel the smugness of those shaking their heads.. Maybe this generation will be more caustic, jaded, bitter. But I will not go down in the last act of my life without reaching for what our country stands for, despite how beaten down those ideals have become. I can only hope that this post will inspire an undecided, disenfranchised or disgusted exhausted citizen to take a stand for democracy and vote.

Music has a way of threading the logic and heart of it all into beauty, even jubilation at its ability to capture the ineffable. I dug up this oldie but goodie, as the message is more plaintive than ever. It gets to the core of from whence we bleed. In fact I hear new meaning in it as the world is seeped in new levels of oppression and injustice. As we rage to see those in position of leadership nurture hate by exacerbating longstanding divisions, defying basic morality, we can only band together to raise the flag of civility.

May the winds blow in the direction of change on Election Day. May we see the lifting of the status quo that has made too many complacent and complicit. May it be a true victory of our right to aim for a union closer to becoming more perfect. How many years can a mountain exist before it is washed to the sea? My bleeding heart wonders …. let’s get out the vote so we don’t leave the answers just blowing in the wind. Let the wind of our breath courage and strength turn this ship around!