Thursday, June 9, 2011

Snow Storm

Snow Storm Massachusetts June 2011
(after this radio spot)

1.

You ever imagine shooting a kid? Getting sent to Iraq
for one tour after another and straight up shooting a ten year old?
Ten years old if you're lucky
They've got to slow down at those checkpoints
And if they don't you have to blow them away, those are the rules
And sometimes really young kids get shot up in the car

I heard the ad on the radio, driving down the highway:
Two young men driving in a snow storm, rescuing cars, thrilled
“Ever imagine anything like this would happen when you joined the Guard?”
“Rescuing people – now that's what I imagined when I joined”

Man, you've been driving blind your whole short life if you believe that

2.

Rescuing people – that's what I imagine
Desperate kids, naïve kids
Telling them to slow down
Telling them they're gonna get driven overseas
The Massachusetts Broadcasters Association has a special radio spot for that too
People who tell you to stop are whiny, controlling, female like your mom

3.

Imagining being a rescuer is good, isn't it?
I want the firefighters to be there for the next tornado
And so does everyone and that's why the evil people use it, you can't stop it
Evil is best, purest, when it uses good intentions

We're heading blind down the highway into the storm
And you can't rescue every kid who wants to go fast in snow
So people who know what they can see
Stop, pull over, watch the doomed drive off, hear the crash in the distance

4.

Standing there silently, like a jerk
While a good person listens to an evil voice
And does what's going to destroy them forever
Because you can't do anything else
Isn't that what God does?
Isn't that the closest that we get to God?

2 comments:

  1. An interesting synchronicity. Our city is currently hosting the State National Guard, which is conducting a major exercise described as Homeland Security Force. This isn't at all about rescues and so forth, but rather training in combating urban and rural threats inside the US from US citizens. I would much prefer to see the troops carrying firefighter or other rescue equipment rather than the kits of gas masks and anti-bio-weapon paraphernalia.

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  2. Thanks, spyder. I would guess that a good deal of the training that they do is a form of theater -- no one is going to call them out for a bio-weapon incident, but having people see them carry the equipment around reassures those people that the National Guard have a purpose other than being sent as combat troops to the Middle East somewhere. For the same reason, the Guard makes sure to heavily publicize those rare incidents when they are called out for some kind of domestic natural disaster.

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