The Destination by Janet Bates

lyrics below (Written for Ehren Watada, the first officer to refuse to be deployed to Iraq, and presented at a fund raiser for him at Eugene Oregon.)
Lyrics:
In the end, it's not the medals that you have upon your chest
But if somewhere underneath them you still have a heart left
If you can feel the pain of others, if you can even feel at all
When you glance at your reflection, is it standing straight and tall?
The destination is a measure of the steps that you have taken
From the beginning to the end
The destination is a sum of all your weaknesses subtracted from the sum of all your strengths,
In the end it is not who won the battles or who won the war but
If those who were fighting knew what they were fighting for
Were they fighting for a country? Were they fighting for their home?
When the spoils of war are divided, do they know where they would go?
The destination is where all your fears have taken you and then where your good sense has intervened
The questions never answered, and the questions never asked, and answers you did not want to believe
They called his death a suicide, how could they understand?
That he died 35 years ago in a hut in Vietnam
At that moment when a hunter glances at his fallen prey
And see the faded image of who he was yesterday
The destination is the measure of a life that has been borrowed but was never given back
The peace is never written on the lines upon a page
But that vacant space between is where the warriors disengage
It only really happens when all the voices have been heard
For the ones who have been silenced never put away their swords
The destination is a measure of the steps where you have fallen to the beating of a drum
And the steps that you have taken from the moment of awakening
When you wonder where that noise was coming from
performed by Janet & Ken Bates
words & music by Janet Bates
http://janetbates.com

Category:

Music

Tags:

• anti-war
• peace
• protest
• janet
• ken
• bates
• iraq
• military
• soldier
• Ehren
• Watada
• celtic
• folk
• songwriter
• susquehanna

[VronRN]

Oh my gosh... the words are beautiful and meaningful. So nice.

[shudderbug]

Thanks VronRN. I'm glad you like this song. They do such a great job, and they fantastic dedicated people. There have five other songs on my site, as well as their own website. I only wish I had shot it with my camera's highest video quality, but I was not sure about posting big files on YouTube. Keep up your great work!