There is so much I want to say about the latest Middle East conflict. But there’s a lot being said already, and maybe I should let my thoughts percolate for a while to provide perspective.

This song though has been floating through my head. Written by Terry Scott Taylor of Daniel Amos for a Middle East conflict more 35 years ago, the words are fresh today. We just don’t learn.

Father Explains

His bare feet are calloused, he hikes up his pants
His mother says “Son, you’re too young for the ranks
We need food for our family, not airplanes and tanks
And that’s where the money’s all gone”
Eight brothers and sisters, but three of them died
Caught out in the marketplace with nowhere to hide
The boy thinks God may be over on the devil’s side
Where the line in the sand has been drawn

[Chorus 1]
Father’s screaming now: “Somebody put out the light
If God wills it now, we’ll be in heaven tonight”
(Oh yeah)
The bombs came down like steel rain
(Oh yeah)
Hit the ground like steel rain
(Oh yeah)
Nothing sounds like steel rain
“It’s our lot in life, son,” his father explains

[Verse 2]
When the total of life has been suffering and hate
Death on the doorsteps and endless debate
Then God only knows how much blood it will take
Before someone makes right all the wrong
So bitter and hardened, too old for his age
The boy screams his madness, succumbs to his rage
Now he’s just another death on the bottom of the page
And that’s how the story goes on

[Chorus 2]
Father’s screaming now: “Somebody put out the light
If God wills it now, we’ll be in heaven tonight”
(Oh yeah)
The bombs came down like steel rain
(Oh yeah)
Hit the ground like steel rain
(Oh yeah)
Nothing sounds like steel rain
“It’s our lot in life, daughter,” her father explains