Joan Baez: "Oh, Freedom" 1966

I'm still traumatized by the pain of my bereaved friends.  I grasp the death of their son.  He is in a blissful place.  He is better off than ever.  Rather than focusing on him, I am, instead, in shock at the immense pain my friends are suffering. 

Maybe there's a perspective which can point to some value in their suffering.  Maybe they are taking on, on behalf of mankind, the suffering which Jesus was unable to take on before His death.  I'm not an expert, and I'm not actively searching out that perspective.  I am busy being dazed at the suffering of the parents, the 2 younger brothers and 2 younger sisters, and the grandparents.  

My sister in law Lisa says we are especially sensitive to the family b/c we (she and my brother, and me) have sons almost exactly the same age as the lost young man.

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BTW:  here is You Tube of my son, Jake, playing with his high school jazz band three years ago.  Jake is currently a music composition major, and a junior in college.  Thank you to my wonderful and beautiful cousin, Brooke Dodson, for videotaping and uploading the video.  At the end, (approx 5:00) Jake has a couple of girls screaming his name.  Sometimes high school is fun that way - though it never was fun that way for me!

Because I am still learning about music, I used to say to Jake: "Play louder."  To me, louder is better!  Jake would say "No no.  I have to play just the right volume to play against the other musicians in the proper way."  Oh.  Well.  I learn new things all the time.  I wish Jake had played "just the right volume" when he was learning the trombone in 6th grade. As I recall, he appreciated loud volume much more back then.

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This performance: "Oh, Freedom", in Stockholm in 1966.



Baez is 25 years old.  She had, the previous year, marched with Martin Luther King.  Wikipedia:

Joan linked arms with Martin Luther King to protect African American schoolchildren in Grenada, Mississippi and joined King on his march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, singing for the marchers in the town of St. Jude as they camped the night before arriving in Montgomery.

"Oh, Freedom", a simple and clean song, nicely showcases Baez' voice. It is perfect for her.

And maybe it's perfect for me, tonight.