One Of The Dominoes

"Heaven, heaven, help me....I'm one of the dominoes, chain reaction coming blow by blow." "walking 'round blind to the harm that's bein' done...he thinks it's alright cause it's happenin' to everyone." "Heaven help a seeker of truth in an age of lies! gonna make himself believe that the truth is whatever he buys".

So went the wisdom of Mark Heard who was in fact the most gifted writer and performer on the face of the planet. Mark had no clue whatsoever that his songs were both the story of current day truths AND prophecy. Although there was a very stark and revealing world view present in Mark's work, Mark also wrote his material in such a way that we each as individuals can look into our lives and see where this truth & wisdom applies.

The year was 1982 when Mark wrote an album called "Victims of The Age" and on that album was a song called "Heart Of Hearts". Heat Of Hearts told the story of one chaotic night as seen through the eyes of a man who knew he was humbled to be alive because he was fortunate enough to have known divine love.

Between the knowledge of being fortunate enough to know divine love, there were "tears in the city and nobody is really surprised, ya know". Mark knew "the world is in shambles, I'm just a young man but it's getting a little bit old to me. I'm already aching, the years have been taking a little bit of a toll on me." From there, Mark says: "Two in the morning, the siren is warning that everything is not quite alright. City is sleeping and I'm down on my knees in the night tonight."

As we stop at this moment to look at the world events taking place everywhere, we have to acknowledge that we aren't only part of our local community but also a part of a bigger world. We now stop to look at ourselves in the context of our own life's dealings at work and in private. Does anyone now see a pattern of two things? History repeating itself combined with the fact that we can all somehow truly identify with the masterful lyrics in Mark's songs?

Only once in a lifetime does it happen that a person lives here among the rest of us who really knows something we will not ever understand even if we lived to be two hundred years old. Having never known Mark, I cannot say for sure if he ever really knew the implications of his music career and exactly how far reaching his words were nor will I ever know if Mark even had a sense that he was speaking wisdom beyond his own existence.

As writers, our job may be to simply entertain; to give people a way to pass their time pleasantly and somehow keep cranking out material by whatever inspiration happens when our muse is active, BUT, we can't ever disregard the multiple conditions of the world around us. The effects, the consequences actually DO filter down into our local communities and affect our lives. We can entertain, we can be great at what we do, yet, we can also be the instruments in the world who cause change to take place.

We can be people or sheeple. No matter what world leaders say publicly, the economy is NOT recovering, the unemployment rate is not getting better, businesses are still steadily shutting down or at least making severe cuts to survive. The lyrics in Mark's works were about the ridiculous things we do, it was about the mundane parts of life we take for granted, and how that plays into each of us becoming lax about our very presence here.

Apathy, indifference, name your human condition and it applies. Collectively, we are victims of the age because we have trusted leaders who have taken us all for a ride and divided us while they laugh all the way home. What I know in my heart of hearts other than I have been fortunate to know divine love is that I am also one of the dominoes.

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