Sometimes It's Better to LIve in the Trenches

 In many ways I am a country boy.  My mother grew up on the dairy farm.  Once I prided myself on musical intellect, but as I have grown older I am learning that pride is a sin?  I don't agree with that.  The values of farm living are rich in lessons, and America would evolve if these values were embraced.  We have lost much of our past.  TV's depiction of American life is superficial.  The substance of humanity and its survival is in the church, the stories in the Bible about the life of Jesus, and in art.  William Shakespeare's literature depicts the reality of human conflict.  Not everything in life must be melodramatic, but life is no joke.  It has gotten more real for me, as I have grown old and have become a caregiver.  Its depth and gravity is overwhelming if  you confront it head on.  A bit of dodging is needed, shucking and jiving, and moving out of the way of the challenge.  Often it is better to live in the trenches, and to keep your soul, ideals, dreams, and fantasies to yourself.  What the enemy knows about you is his strength.  If you deprive him of his fuel, he may not sustain.  There are times when we must let the cards fall where they will fall.  Should we let America fail?  Evil is strong and conniving.  It has attempted to demonize every aspect of human existence.  It is a tough pill to swallow understanding the yard once in which I prided myself is capable of killing me.  I blew the leaves in my driveway yesterday, and today I am sick.  Was it an allergic reaction, and was it long Covid?  What gives my life meaning and purpose is music.  I have been a musician all of my life.  It is my identity, and it is a lifestyle.  Music has become a nemesis to me.  It is superfluous, antagonistic, and burdensome.  In truth it is the light.  It is none of those things.  It is being cast as those things by evil.  The majority of the surrounding community does not understand or embrace the healing powers of music.  They are self centered and proud.  They find its inclusion cumbersome.  Silence is their desire.  Quiet servitude is their goal.  Say nothing, be nothing, and make no waves.  Exist.  This is the Trump philosophy, and it is not human.  This is not America.  Ignoring music and its messages and its healing powers is not American.  America will not become great again without music, because music built America.  Music is and was the voice of the people.  I have studied a lot of music.  First it was jazz, and then it was classical.  I have attended three different universities studying music.  In all of this study never was I exposed to the breadth of American music.  Jazz often is called America's true art form, but there are more.  This definition needs to be amended.  Jazz music was not the beginning of American music, because it only covers one century and specific cities.  Old Timey music is a term now being used to champion earlier American music.  We know about the origins of country music from Ken Burns video series.  Bluegrass has become well known and qualifies as an American art form.  Blues in particular mixed with black church music may be the most potent of early American music.  I have listed five types of music:  Music of the Black Church, Blues, Old Timey, Country, and Bluegrass.  It is common to believe Bluegrass did not come to fruition until the mid twentieth century with the addition of Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs to Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys.  Bill played mandolin, Cedric Rainwater played bass, and Chubby Wise played fiddle.  The addition of Earl Scruggs' "clawhammer" banjo defined their sound, although the roots of Bluegrass are earlier.  I have not even mentioned another important genre of American music, and it was military music of all kinds.  Marching music in particular is extremely important in American music history including fife and drum.  The music of the Civil War was characterized by all different types of brass instruments tailored for marching in the ranks.  All of this history is lost in America today.  I ask you to ask yourself what is going to make America great again, if we don't recognize, study, and honor these purely American traditions?  The diverse geography of North America and the music that developed out of it are the roots of America and what made her great.  There is not one thing Donald Trump is offering in his empty rhetoric that personifies American struggle, triumph, and perseverance.  It would seem again the nation is at a juncture, and a second Civil War is imminent.  Little did I know in the last chapters of my life I may become a Doomsday Prepper.