As a harmonica blew in the background, John Henry Faulk, TV host for special “Folk songs and More Folk Songs”, spoke to the audience, “You hear that? Whatever we’ve done as a people, is always been turning up in songs. Folk songs we call em. I don’t guess there is a better way to know about a country and its people than listen to its song.”
The harmonica sound belonged to a twenty three year old folk singer who then began to sing a song he had written a year earlier.
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
How many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea?
Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
For the young folk singer, suffering and injustice clearly existed in the wide open. He could see that Jim Crow Laws were still enacted and that the tension in Vietnam was escalating. But so could everyone else. Yet no one was doing anything about it. So he wrote a song.
“I still say it's [the answer] in the wind and just like a restless piece of paper it's got to come down some time... But the only trouble is that no one picks up the answer when it comes down so not too many people get to see and know it... and then it flies away again... I still say that some of the biggest criminals are those that turn their heads away when they see wrong and know it's wrong. I'm only 21 years old and I know that there's been too many wars... You people over 21, you're older and smarter” - Bob Dylan, 1962.
“Blowing in the Wind” reflects our culture today even more so then it did in the sixties. People die of hunger, curable diseases, and live with no houses. Instead of working on technological solutions to these problems, governments around the world race towards more sophisticated technology to kill. More people cry, more people die and more people live under economic slavery. And the biggest crime is: we are all aware of theses sufferings in the world.
The elite and super rich know about suffering because they create it and make profit out of it. The poor know about suffering because they experience it day to day. Those who live in between know about suffering through education or personal experiences. Yet, with all this awareness why has there been no significant change in humanity’s behavior?
When I was young it was easy to see right and wrong. I heard the people’s cry and I saw people living in poverty and I did know that too many people had died in this world. Then I grew older and I started to feel helpless and overwhelmed. Suffering seemed like a natural part of humanity. I had no skills no power to bring change in the world. In no way, could it have been my task to rid suffering in the world. So I pretended not to see.
And I felt no guilt. Why should I? I was against wars and injustice but it wasn’t me who was the one starting wars or the one with power to stop those who did. I had no resposonbility. So I ruled out that I had a role in it. This logic allowed me to solve the dilemma between my values and actions. And I felt quite comfortable with such logic . I had other things to keep me busy. I had to go to school, I had to go to work, I had to see my friends, and I had to watch my favorite tv shows. Soon the problems of the world meant little to me and I felt no guilt when I would hear news stories of war and deaths.
Now I have stopped pretending. I stopped pretending because I do see and hear and read about suffering. I made a conscious decision to live the way I think and not the other way around.
Your role isn't to go out and change the world today. Do not try to put the weight of the suffering world on your shoulders. It will take more than one person to eradicate hate and injustice in the world. Your role is to transform yourself. Your transformations is the most important change needed to change the world. Begin by simply stop pretending that you don’t see. Once you stop pretending the next step will come naturally. For Bob Dylan writing “Blowing in the Wind” may have been an extremely easy one. He just wrote what he saw. You will never feel true dignity with yourself unless you stop pretending. Stop pretending that you don’t know how much suffering exists in the world. Stop pretending you can’t hear people cry. Stop pretending you don’t know too many people have died. Stop pretending now!
If the answer is going to be blowing in the wind it is even more crucial that we change ourselves. So when the answer is given we will all be ready to run with it. Only through a sincere transformation of you can there be change in the world. Next time a wind blows by stop and feel the breeze and look to your feet. The answer may be right there. Waiting for you to pick it up.
The harmonica sound belonged to a twenty three year old folk singer who then began to sing a song he had written a year earlier.
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
How many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea?
Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
For the young folk singer, suffering and injustice clearly existed in the wide open. He could see that Jim Crow Laws were still enacted and that the tension in Vietnam was escalating. But so could everyone else. Yet no one was doing anything about it. So he wrote a song.
“I still say it's [the answer] in the wind and just like a restless piece of paper it's got to come down some time... But the only trouble is that no one picks up the answer when it comes down so not too many people get to see and know it... and then it flies away again... I still say that some of the biggest criminals are those that turn their heads away when they see wrong and know it's wrong. I'm only 21 years old and I know that there's been too many wars... You people over 21, you're older and smarter” - Bob Dylan, 1962.
“Blowing in the Wind” reflects our culture today even more so then it did in the sixties. People die of hunger, curable diseases, and live with no houses. Instead of working on technological solutions to these problems, governments around the world race towards more sophisticated technology to kill. More people cry, more people die and more people live under economic slavery. And the biggest crime is: we are all aware of theses sufferings in the world.
The elite and super rich know about suffering because they create it and make profit out of it. The poor know about suffering because they experience it day to day. Those who live in between know about suffering through education or personal experiences. Yet, with all this awareness why has there been no significant change in humanity’s behavior?
When I was young it was easy to see right and wrong. I heard the people’s cry and I saw people living in poverty and I did know that too many people had died in this world. Then I grew older and I started to feel helpless and overwhelmed. Suffering seemed like a natural part of humanity. I had no skills no power to bring change in the world. In no way, could it have been my task to rid suffering in the world. So I pretended not to see.
And I felt no guilt. Why should I? I was against wars and injustice but it wasn’t me who was the one starting wars or the one with power to stop those who did. I had no resposonbility. So I ruled out that I had a role in it. This logic allowed me to solve the dilemma between my values and actions. And I felt quite comfortable with such logic . I had other things to keep me busy. I had to go to school, I had to go to work, I had to see my friends, and I had to watch my favorite tv shows. Soon the problems of the world meant little to me and I felt no guilt when I would hear news stories of war and deaths.
Now I have stopped pretending. I stopped pretending because I do see and hear and read about suffering. I made a conscious decision to live the way I think and not the other way around.
Your role isn't to go out and change the world today. Do not try to put the weight of the suffering world on your shoulders. It will take more than one person to eradicate hate and injustice in the world. Your role is to transform yourself. Your transformations is the most important change needed to change the world. Begin by simply stop pretending that you don’t see. Once you stop pretending the next step will come naturally. For Bob Dylan writing “Blowing in the Wind” may have been an extremely easy one. He just wrote what he saw. You will never feel true dignity with yourself unless you stop pretending. Stop pretending that you don’t know how much suffering exists in the world. Stop pretending you can’t hear people cry. Stop pretending you don’t know too many people have died. Stop pretending now!
If the answer is going to be blowing in the wind it is even more crucial that we change ourselves. So when the answer is given we will all be ready to run with it. Only through a sincere transformation of you can there be change in the world. Next time a wind blows by stop and feel the breeze and look to your feet. The answer may be right there. Waiting for you to pick it up.
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