Interrupted Thoughts - 2nd Post Today

"Music gives wings of freedom to the enslaved."
- The Muse Box

This was written by a fellow blogger. It is quite a beautiful sentence, the kind of sentence you want rattling around in your brain, turning the phrase, looking for meaning.

In America, the word "slavery," "enslaved" and the like, have a lot of baggage – and rightly so. The United States was one of the last countries to emancipate slaves, doing it far later than most other "first world" countries. Now, I don't want to get into why this was – as books have been written about it. Suffice it to say, because of this history, "enslave" carries much deserved baggage.

But if you are trapped in a cage or with shackles, what good are wings? And the answer, perhaps makes all of the difference. I am going to expand this a bit – I want to think of the enslaved as those trapped, caged, or whatever. During WWII, many were trapped in Concentration Camps throughout Europe (and in the US; ironic how this country, land of the free and all, has many blots on its reputation). One such trapped person was a priest (Bishop Neuhausler) in one of these concentration camps (Dachau) – actually, many priests were housed at Dachau, as there was even a "priest cell" and specific "priest patch" worn on their clothes. Father Neuhausler survived Dachau – and he of course, was asked why he survived when others did not. It was not singing or music, but prayer, that helped him. I have heard other accounts – the hostage crisis in the late 70's, for instance, and the people who did well mentally had something in common – many had prayer, but others had a vision of them after leaving captivity. They willed themselves to believe in their future. And I can see music helping this.

Music allows us to share in one another's emotions – perhaps in a deeper way than writing affords. Actually, I have changed my blog a bit, and started reading an audio blog – more of a music blog. Plus, when I visit others blogs, I enjoy the music more.

For instance, when visiting n-search the other day, I heard a wonderful song that I would not have heard otherwise. I just checked GP's site to get her URL (she sometimes but not always has music streaming), and she has a very powerful post. It sort of derailed my thinking.

Crap. Well, this is a bit unusual, but I am going to stop my post now. Go over to GP's site, but be warned, there are some very gruesome photographs concerning America's past. Sorry – but at least you get two posts today. One crappy one earlier today, and this, unfinished one.

Peace.