Comments on: “DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE THE LOVE OF GOD GOES?”

By: Brett

Brett — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:22:11 +0000

Wonderful posting. I’ve been intrigued by that song for more than a year, so much that I recently visited Whitefish Point and wrote about the line “does anyone know where the love of God goes” (http://blogs.pioneerlocal.com/religion). I appreciate the comparison to other disaster songs and their main elements. Just the intro chords to this Lightfoot masterpiece gives me chills, more so now that I’ve been there.

By: The MaryHunter

The MaryHunter — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 18:16:20 +0000

PS: For docdave, I have this to share that I found over at basil’s blog - Lunch today:
“My Little Prayer For Today“. A great modern-day parable I’d not heard before. It made me re-think just how I’m explaining this all to my 3 and 6 year olds, just why it is that God makes hurricanes. Still doesn’t change my final answer though: “I don’t know.”

By: Rick Moran

Rick Moran — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 18:16:06 +0000

Fzz:

You’re right…I should have made it clear I was talking about an American natural disaster (600,000 people died in the CHinese earthquake of 1976).

TMH:

What you say is true about CW vis a vis 9/11. However, the deafening silence from both the visual arts (photography excepted) and the performing arts and with the publication of few novels or books of poetry by recognized cultural leaders, my point is I believe valid.

These are the people who ordinarily would put 9/11 in a cultural context which would give us those touchstones you speak of. The have failed miserably and I think it has more to do with the politicization of our culture - both right and left - rather than the nature of the event.

By: The MaryHunter

The MaryHunter — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 18:09:42 +0000

Neat analysis, Rick. Re 9/11 vs. Civil War: I do think we’re probably too close to 9/11 to tell what’s to come of it culturally yet. (Remember well: Ollie Stone’s move has yet to come out. :lol:)

But I also wonder whether 9/11 and the CW are really comparable this way, since they’re such different events, touchstones as they were (and will be) for generations to come. And, they happened at such different times in our Nation’s history.

I’d think that the Civil War would be more evocative of change and cultural upheaval (= output) because it was, much more than 9/11 will ever be, emblematic of a huge sociopolitical rift in our nation: neighbors fighting neighbors, brother fighting brother, to the death. While the leftist elites vs. the neocons is a grand fight, it’s nothing in comparison. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Civil War inspired more cultural and arts production than have both WWI and WWII combined. After all, there were two sides, and the two sides were US.

Though not to diminish 9/11 and the GWOT. After all, it’s not just the USA, but Western Civilization, that’s at stake this time…

By: fizzix

fizzix — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 17:32:09 +0000

“As Hurricane Katrina bears down on New Orleans and the people there brace themselves for what may turn out to be the most horrendous natural disaster in my lifetime…”

Have you forgotten last year’s tsunami already?

By: Rick Moran

Rick Moran — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 16:49:08 +0000

THe title of the post was in quotation marks for a reason. It was from a line in the song Edmund Fitzgerald.

I am not asking the question. It was a question being asked by Gordon Lightfoot and was rhetorical in nature.

By: docdave

docdave — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 16:45:33 +0000

Aargh, Rick, if you have to ask the question â€œDOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE THE LOVE OF GOD GOES?â€ then you probably don’t know God. God is love, period, and our mission on earth is to emulate Him as best we can. The best way for us humans to emulate Gods love is to show love and compassion for our fellow man. When Jesus Christ was asked what were the greatest commandments, the first was to love God with all ones might, the second was to love our neighbor as oneself. How easy it is to ignore or forget this second commandment in the ordinary run of a days activities. Crisis situations like hurrican Katrina are opportunities given to us to show our love for our fellow man with works of charity.