With the 4th of July in the air, I've been singing a lot of Patriotic songs with people. Today I went to an under served nursing home in the area and found many of the residents smoking outside on the back porch. I decided that would be a great place to do our singing and very fitting to be outside in the hot July sunshine. I was told by one of them that they are only allowed to go outside a few times a day. To some it meant having to go hours without a cigarette, so they made the most of the opportunity by chain smoking the whole time we sang. I was sorry to see Miss Marlene out there smoking, since the last time I saw her she had told me she quit. I was polite though and did not remind her of this.
We sang old camp and school favorite songs and patriotic songs too. I'd say of all of them the song, "This Land is Your Land" struck me as the most appropriate. Written by Woody Guthrie during the Depression, he wrote it in response to the song, "God Bless America." He felt this song portrayed America in an unrealistically optimistic view and did not tell of those who struggled and had nothing. Woody traveled around and met people from all walks of life, some rich and some poor. He felt it was unfair that some had big homes and lived extravagantly while others had next to nothing.
The nursing home where I sang today is a place where folks do not have much. Yet what I love about the people there is they never complain nor do they seem unhappy from their simple and stark home. They always thank me many times for coming to sing and they seem to have more gratitude then many I see with much more prosperity. It is true that happiness is not about what we have but what we appreciate.
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