Quote:
Originally Posted by ribbons
Erica, I'm glad you and your dad have been sharing those special activities -- hiking the hills, listening to Bach and eating organic strawberries are lovely ways to build even more memories together, which I hope you continue doing for a long time to come.
What a great idea, to compose a classical piece for your dad! That is bound to lift his spirits and I bet it'll mean so much to him. So break out that violin and get started, lady.  |
I've got my ol' violin tuned and ready!
Thanks, Liz, for your kind words.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Unicorn
I'm also very sorry to hear that about you Dad, I think this is very beautiful and moving- especially the last verse. I have been blessed to not have dealt with cancer in my immediate family, but I have lost loved ones to illness and accident and it is very painful. Keep up hope through everything!
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Thank you, Unicorn. I'm sorry about *your* loved ones. I have worried about my parents dying since I was 13 or so...and the most painful part for me, now that I'm older, is the fear of how it will feel for them to lose themselves and the chance to live and fulfill dreams. I always hope the joy of having lived a good life will make up for the emotional and physical pain of death...but I'm not so sure it is easy to keep this perspective when one is the one who is dying!
I do have hope, though, that a hard death will not negate the appreciation of a mostly beautiful life.
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Switching back to the topic of life, I have finished the lyrics for my third activist song about a hairy subject...HAIR. The first song was supportive of men with long hair. The second song was supportive of bald women. I wrote this final song, "Brave," in support of women like myself who keep their body hair.
I suspect that women who feel shaving and waxing their bodies is a trivial issue probably have always done so and thus have never faced the negative social consequences of not removing their body hair.
I think the women who dare to keep their body hair, in defiance of a sexist culture that is critical of women's but not men's leg and underarm hair, know this issue of shaving body hair is far from trivial. I think they will understand this song only too well.
So, my fellow non-shaving women, wherever you are, this song goes out to you...
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“Brave" by Erica
I know what you are going through
when they shove you up against the wall.
I know how it feels when they spit on you,
trying to make you feel weak and small.
I know people can be cruel
and you’re a brave individual
because...
you don’t give up, you don’t give in,
your don’t give out
when they shout their snide remarks.
You don’t give up, you don’t give out,
you don’t give in
when they treat you like a sin
all because you dare
to keep your...
I know how it feels when someone you love
finds touching you hard to bear
just because, oh so distasteful,
you stop shaving your...
I know how it feels when asked to meet
a loved-one’s family
and he says, like a punch to the gut,
“If you don’t cover up,
you’ll be going without me.”
I know people can be cruel
and you’re a brave individual
because...
you don’t give up, you don’t give in,
you don’t give out
when they shout their snide remarks.
You don’t give up, you don’t give out,
you don’t give in
when you see their scornful grin
all because you dare,
all because you dare...
even though you’re scared,
for you want to be liked,
but to thine own self be true,
and you long to scream,
this is who we are!
What did I ever do to you?!
All you did was dare
to keep your hair
everywhere.
So shocking! Watch them gawking:
Hair! She’s got hair! “Disgusting”
hair! She’s got hair! “Horrifying”
hair! She’s got hair!
“That’s the sickest thing
I’ve seen in my life!”
Brave.
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