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Commentary
www.starnewsga.com StarNews APRIL 3, 2011 Page 15
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Sam
GENTRY
leaves the future wide open. This is a
perfect and poignant example of
great storytelling through a song.
Next up on the disc was one of my
favorite Songs - a song that any heart-
“When I gel a little money I
buy books and if any is left, I
buy food and clothes. ”
- Desiderius Erasmus
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broken person could relate to and be
uplifted by, “You’ll be Coming
Down” by Bruce Springsteen. He is
singing to a woman who has left him
system (MIS) is a system that
provides information needed to
manage organizations effec-
Great song lyrics can heal and
inspire you; I believe it because I’ve
lived it uncountable times. I’d like to
think most people have, too. In fact,
it happened to me just this morning.
As I was getting ready to shower, I
grabbed a CD out of a stack of mix
CDs that I’ve made, or burned, over
the years. I never labeled any of
them, so I have no idea each time
which one I’m getting. I wasn’t in a
really great mood, not a bad one, but
not exactly on top of the world. I’ve
been living the best days of my life
the last few months, so I can’t stand
to feel numb, but I admit I did a little
today - until I put in that CD. (Side
note for people under 20: CDs, or
compact discs, are shiny little discs
that hold information, such as songs,
photos and documents. These were
first put into public use in 1985 in
Japan and can still be found today in
the homes and cars of old people like
me.)
As it turns out, I put this particular
group of songs together following a
dark experience in my life. At that
time I was seeking comfort, courage,
strength and peace as I was dealing
with anger, sadness, emptiness, and
pain. First, I heard the familiar
sounds of my old friends, The
Beatles, singing. “I Dig a Pony”
which John Lennon once said, “Was
literally a nonsense song.” I chose
this as the first song on the disc
because of the chaos and nonsense in
my head at the time, and because The
Beatles have always brought me
quietude in madness. I could feel
myself stirring back to hfe as I began
to shave what’s left of my face since
I’ve grown this goatee.
The next song on the disc was “All
I Want is You” by U2 - a
masterpiece. Lead singer Bono talks
about all the things that his lover
wants such as “diamonds in a ring of
gold” while also examining “all the
promises we make (and break) from
the cradle to the grave.” She wants it
all and promises it all to him, but he
simply wants her - period - and that’s
a beautiful thing - so very human,
raw and passionate.
After taking this powerful journey
of the mind, I had the pleasure of
hearing Tom Petty telling the story of
a young couple who try to make it
work under intense circumstances.
The young man in the song goes to
Hollywood after finishing high
school, gets a tattoo and meets a girl
who has a tattoo, too. She teaches
him some guitar chords, which leads
to him making a record that “went in
the charts.” They meet movie stars
and go to fancy Hollywood parties.
The fame is short-lived, though, and
and broken his heart. He explains to
her that although she feels happy and
carefree at the moment, her wrong
doings will catch up to her. “What
goes around it comes around,” he
says. The best lyric in the song, in
my opinion, is, “You’ll be fine as
long as your pretty face holds out -
then it’s gonna get pretty cold out.”
Springsteen is a genius. He is often
compared to Bob Dylan, who was
one of his greatest influences - and
who happened to have the next
amazing song on my CD.
Bob Dylan is one of a kind; there’s
no doubt he is one of, if not the,
greatest lyricists in music history. My
song choice of his for my list was
“Like a Rolling Stone,” a true classic
and work of art. In the same vein as
the Springsteen song, Dylan tells the
tale of a man whose lover has left
him. Unlike the Springsteen song in
which she simply leaves him behind,
however, in this scenario she leaves
for another man. Dylan revels in her
misery in this song and does it in
such a masterful way that one can
listen to it a thousand times and still
find something unnoticed and
incredible. One of my favorite lyrics
in the song says, “You used to laugh
about everybody that was hanging
out. Now you don’t talk so loud.
Now you don’t seem so proud.”
That’s just great songwriting, folks,
and it made me feel fantastic.
Bob Seger continued to give me
strength and uplift my soul with a
doubleheader of “Night Moves” and
“Against the Wind.” These two
incredible songs took me on a
journey through my youth and teen
years, on through the toughest years -
my twenties - up until now. My
revelations after listening to these
two were how so many things come
full circle in life, how hard yet
beautiful and poetic life can be, how
fleeting and remarkable youth is, and
that it’s okay to let go of the past and
move on.
There were 10 songs on my CD,
so I won’t go all the way down the
list - although I did make it through a
lot of them. I will say this, however, I
felt rejuvenated in my soul and alive
and well after listening to them.
We all have ways of coping with
the challenges of life, and we’re all
different. However, no matter what
our spiritual beliefs, races, genders,
or placement in society, music can be
an unwavering tool of encourage
ment. It is a gift to be treasured.
As I pulled out of my driveway to
head into work this morning, I could
n’t help but think of an Elton John
lyric: “Thank God my music’s still
alive.” '
Stuart
yahm
Books in the small city of
Whitesburg, population 600,
doesn’t have one, doesn’t need
one, doesn’t want one and with
any luck will never adopt one.
But let me back up a bit.
My rumor mill, an operation
that consists of a group of folks
who like to share coffee and a
bowl of grits some mornings at
the Sunnyside Cafe, told me
that a gentleman named
Harvey Taub had passed away
prematurely and that he had
been involved with a bookstore
in Whitesburg, a city just down
the road. Harvey was an engi
neer and an activist and a man
who took his citizenship seri
ously. He helped with various
construction and electrical pro
jects having to do with the
bookstore and contributed a
bunch of his own money to
make sure it was all going to
work. To make doubly sure
nobody forgot all that, after his
death they decided to name the
bookstore, Harvey’s House of
Now I did not know Harvey
personally, and I would like to
have for he did write for this
newspaper. But it did turn out
that he and my beautiful wife,
Camille, had* both spent
extended time on the Island of
Borneo in Southeast Asia over
the same years although they
did not know each other. He
was there with the Peace
Corps, and she was a United
Methodist educational
missionary.
Since Camille and I were
planning our annual Chinese
New Year Celebration at home
with friends, we thought it
would be nice to invite
Harvey’s wife, Bobbe, a native
of Whitesburg. And sure
enough, it was v-e-r-y nice. We
got to know the amazing
Bobbe, and through her, more
about Harvey. A wonderful
evening of conversation,
laughs, and Camille’s authentic
and endless Chinese dinner.
Jen hao chr le!
Bless your heart1
Kyphoplasty is a new medi
cal term I learned recently
through a terrible ordeal. It is a
surgical procedure in which
bone cement is injected
through a small hole in the skin
into a fractured vertebra. It
was our good fortune to work
with a highly respected ortho
pedic surgeon who did the
kyphoplastic procedure (he
didn’t even call it surgery) on
my wife’s spine, Lumbar 1
(one).
Watching my better-half suf
fering excruciating pain was a
terrible pain to me by itself.
Fortunately, the procedure suc
cessfully alleviated her pain
and we thought her suffering
was over. But the old Chinese
saying had its point: “Evil does
not travel alone.” It means bad
things happen one after
another. In other words, when
it rains, it pours.
Four days after surgery, she
fell and fractured her arm.
Back in the hospital, she had
another surgery - this time, on
her arm. When this injury was
being treated, she started feel
ing fresh pain again in her
back.
Another MRI revealed that
there was a fracture on another
disk: Thoracic 12 that is one
above Lumbar 1. Unbearable
t
Dan
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pain returned over the weekend
that sent her to the ER for the
fourth time since the beginning
of the episode. By then, the
word Kyphoplasty had stuck in
my mind. The third surgery
(procedure) went well as was
expected.
Preceding these three surger
ies, she had eye surgery to cor
rect a retinal detachment that
occurred as a result of a
Lucentis injection for macular
degeneration. In the past one
hundred days, the poor woman
suffered four surgeries. We
were in the dumpster.
But this article is not about
despair; it is about kindness
and love of friends and neigh
bors. While we were caught
up in this awful ordeal, the out
pouring of kind concern from
friends and neighbors was
overwhelming. The cards with
comforting words streamed in,
and warm hands helped her in
and out of the car.
Many calls came from all
around, volunteering help to
It was there that I learned
enough about the bookstore to
further arouse my curiosity and
prompt a visit just to see it up
close and personal. And so
Camille and I drove south on
Alt 27 and pulled up to a fairly
non-descript building on the
main road into Whitesburg and
parked on the gravel parking
lot out front. Inside I called out,
“Is anyone here?” and a pleas
ant female voice responded,
“Back here. I’m back here.
C’mon back.” In order to get
“back here” one had to pass
books, lots of books, stacked
books, books still in boxes,
books scattered on tables and
shelves 4-high like bunk-beds
of, well, books. At last I found
Margery Bouris. If ever a
woman looked like she was in
charge, it was Margery.
“Are you in charge here?” I
asked.
“Nobody’s in charge here,”
came the answer carried by a
warm smile. “Can I help you?”
“Well, I’m from the Star
News, and I’d like to talk to
whoever is in charge about the
book store,” I said both warily
and timidly.
“You can talk to me.
Whoever happens to be here at
any time is in charge along
See YAHM page 29
ease our pain. It was a living
testimonial to a community
spirit that is very much alive
here today, despite an outward
appearance to the contrary.
At the hospital waiting
rooms, short stay facility
floors, and even at the cafete
ria, total strangers were sympa
thetic to our plight upon hear
ing my story and said: “Bless
your heart!” The expression
was universal regardless of
gender, age or any other indi
vidual difference.
I searched my memory to
see if there is equivalent
expression in the Asian lan
guage. I failed to find one. I
concluded that this has to be a
genuine American expression.
The next time I run into
someone in similarly dire
stress, I will be sure to tell them
the same, “Bless your heart!”
But it must be said with the
proper intonation to make it
sound natural. It will be inter
esting to see what kind of reac
tion I might get in return. I
don’t mind seeing a few eye
brows raised in amazement or
a chuckle in amusement. It is
all for humor and done in good
taste.
I like to think that our ordeal
was not in vain after all. Bless
your heart.
