BLACK LABEL SOCIETY “IN THIS RIVER”| Dealing With the Grief

 

In this river, all shall fade to black. Ain’t no coming back.

Life is a blow: soon it comes, soon it goes. The metaphor like a river is one of the most beautiful things. A river is never in the same place because it is in constant movement until discharging in another point. It’s the continuous evolution of life, which goes through many sections before the coming end.

In another hand, nobody is ready for the end. I’ve been talking to some people recently about how to deal with the grieve. During our lives we prepare for tons of things, however, death is one of the events we aren’t able to learn and face it.

This storm that’s broken me.

            And to think about that our only certainty is the end of life. The pain hitting the chest, the thoughts, the memories… everything goes around and return, even more in a heavy and sad year like this 2020 in which many people have ceased to live.

            The best thing to do in a moment like this is to step back and remember the good things that happened and express, somehow, the memories present in our hearts.           

 Withdrawn a step away just to find myself.

            Recently I’ve lost my little dog because of an anomaly in his head. He lived for about 6 months, yet he was a very crazy and happy dog. Losing him hurt a lot and, as way of dealing with it, I wrote a short text remembering his life. It was the way I found to free my heart.

            It was something that happened to a little pet that I loved so much, and I believe many others have been through the same. But for the human being, death isn’t the end. There is a higher hope. Christ came and died so we can, in the end, live eternally.    

“Jesus told her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die.’” 

John 11:25-26

            Believing in Jesus’ death and resurrection, and accepting him as Saviour of your life, even though your body ceases to breathe, your soul will live forever and in peace. Besides, He is the only one able to bring peace to our grieved heart.

“You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” 

Isaiah 26:3

            Even if the river ends its destination, it has left a legacy. Zakk Wylde, this song’s singer and composer, dedicated this song to his friend Dimebag Darrell, who was murdered while playing in a concert. Zakk always comments about Dimebag’s legacy for music.

            Which mark do you want to leave? How will people remember you? What is your legacy?

In this river, all shall fade to black. In this river, ain’t no coming back.

= = = = =

To listen to this song and read the lyrics, as also watch the YouTube video about this text (English subtitles enabled), check the links down below.  

Do you want your suggestion showing up here? Leave a comment or go on Facebook and Instagram.

 

YouTube video: https://youtu.be/Auepa2LiGIc

Lyrics: https://genius.com/Black-label-society-in-this-river-lyrics

Listen on: Deezer | Spotify | YouTube | YouTube Music

Source: https://genius.com/Black-label-society-in-this-river-lyrics#about

DC TALK “COLORED PEOPLE” | The Racial Brawl and the Fight For Love

 

Photo by Matheus Viana from Pexels

Pardon me, your epidermis is showing, sir. I couldn’t help but note your shade of melanin.

At the end of the 80s a trio gathered in Virginia’s state, USA, and they made difference while they were a band. This group consisted of Toby Mckeehan (better known as Toby Mac), Michael Tait and Kevin Max. Together they released five studio albums and made some concerts around the world, which some of them were later released in video.

But, what this group made of different? Firstly, they consisted of two white men and a negro (they made a song about this!); secondly, they mixed hip-hop, rap and rock; and, lastly, all of this was made in a Christian environment. The recommendation I did on the blog, from the album Free At Last, from 1992, there’s something more about their history and some prizes they had won. Alas their last studio album was in 1998, although from time to time they reunite for commemorative concerts, but no new songs as DC Talk, the band.

Since their start, the lyrics were always turned to the Christian view, but never forgetting the world view with its flaws and needs. In 1995 the album Jesus Freak was released, probably the band’s biggest hit, and in it the lyrics talk about spiritual themes (as Jesus’ acceptance, hypocrisy, atheism) and socials (seeking a friend’s forgiveness, racism, facing the tolerance and acceptance), themes that today, in the high of 2020, are prevailing. Among them, I want to highlight the song Colored People.

Pardon me, your epidermis is showing, sir. I couldn’t help but note your shade of melanin.

That’s how the song starts, right to the subject it wants to talk about. It sounds racist, doesn’t it? Even more inside North America’s context and history, we see a past and present of conflicts. We've got names who fought and keep on fighting for this cause, like Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, Malcom X, and many others. Recently we had the sad event with George Floyd, a black man who had his life shortened by the hands of a white police officer, a spark that rose a great of wave of riots in the USA. But song takes a different route.

I tip my hat to the colourful arrangement, ‘cause I see the beauty in the tones of our skin.

This excerpt shows that, even though there are bad people around us, there are those who know how to admire the differences, who understand that the divergence make us stronger and turn us into better beings. It isn’t one’s colour that defines them good or evil, better or worse. It comes from their character.

God made everything perfectly, even more the human being. He made all races and types, and made them at His own image and similarity. For Him there is no difference of colours.

“So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

Genesis 1:27

And since we know that, we mustn’t create conflicts because of this kind of situation. We must unite to deliver better conditions for everyone. We are human beings and live in the very same space. Let’s teach our kids that their origins don’t make them superior. Everybody has a history, and we all have a fight to win. We are in the same team seeking the most humanitarian and egalitarian way for everyone. Even not being an easy and fair fight, together we are stronger, like this beautiful chorus reinforces:

We’re coloured people, and we live in a tainted place.
We’re coloured people, and they call us the human race.
We’ve got a history so full of mistakes,
and we are coloured people who depend on a Holy Grace.

This song was a suggestion that my brother, Matheus, sent. You can check the song and read the lyrics in the links below, as watch this text's video on YouTube (English subtitles enabled).

Give your suggestion in the comments or on Instagram. Who knows if it can be the next to show up here!?

 

YouTube video: https://youtu.be/GLDuaMZ-yds  

Lyrics: https://genius.com/Dc-talk-colored-people-lyrics

Listen on: Deezer | Spotify | YouTube | YouTube Music