blowin in the wind

I love Bob Dylan songs

     I was a young teen in Chicago when I bought Freewheeling Bob Dylan and my father hated it.  Whenever I put it on he would mumble and complain, so naturally I played it as often, and loudly, as I could.
     I also bought Bob Dylan.  That album had him in a shearling type coat, so I immediately found a coat that looked like that.
     I was taking guitar lessons and I always envisioned I would one day be able to play like him.
     But that took practice, and practice was not a price I was willing to pay.  So I never learned, despite numerous attempts.
     I always considered him a folk singer....and when he went electric, I sort of stopped listening to the new music.  My mistake.
     But his songs....his protest songs..... ring true now, just as they did then.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

     I believed those words, those ideas.  I really thought my generation would make a difference....and that the old folks were holding us up.
     I know we did have an impact, but it wasn't enough.  
     Racism, poverty, and wars still exist.  There is still pollution, although the environment is much better than it was in the 50s and 60s.  Homelessness and opioid deaths are a disgrace.
     We didn't seem to be able to make enough of a difference.  And now, in our doddering old age, we don't seem to be as committed to change as we once were.
     I thought about that a lot today.  Martin Luther King's dream to create a world where all people are equal has not yet been realized.
     My hope is that young people, people like my young friend James, will be able to create that world and when they are old can look back and say, "We did good in our lives."
     With that hope, I leave you with my favorite Dylan song.....

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, and how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, and how many times must the cannonballs fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing in the wind

Yes, how many years can a mountain exist
Before it is washed to the sea?
Yes, and how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing in the wind

Yes, How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, and how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, and how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing in the wind