Opinion by Lauren Comele Morris
April 19, 2023
One Small Life in Ukraine 2023
ONE SMALL LIFE
Copyright 2001, Lauren Comele Morris and Celticana
“There’s a purpose to my efforts, and a reason for my struggle.
When I reach out for the stars, I tumble down the mountain.
For I Am Only One Small Life, is this vast universe,
can I make any difference somewhere to life upon this earth?
For I Am Only One Small Life, I Am Only One Small Life, I Am Only, One Small Life.
Now I hold my head up high. Such a heavy thing to do.
And the spirit that I follow tells me I’m no fool.
So from my secluded place and grand stance upon this ground,
I Am Only One Small Life, burning proud.
I want to ride the raging seas and walk the desert sands. I want to feel lightning strike the palm of my hand!
For I Am Only One Small Life, I Am Only One Small Life.
Can I make any difference, can I make any difference, can I make any difference . . . to
One Small Life?”
SOCIOBIOLOGY
Songs have lives of their own. They touch you and say, “here I am, see me, hear me, do something with me”. It is as close to a spiritual encounter as a person may have in my experience. In 2001, my songs came from my "sociobiology" as I was told at the time by the then Director of Psychology at the University of Chicago. He explained to me that sociobiology is the cultural DNA stamp that lives in a person and is a part of who they are and become when they discover where they are from and how their ancestors lived.
Mine is from my Celtic heritage that pumps through my blood, feeds my soul, and grounds who I am. The Director called me back then to tell me that his 10 year old daughter played my Soldier's Daughter record every morning before school. She danced and sang and was connected to the music. He told me about his observation of her discovering her heritage through my music which spoke directly to her soul. His call remains one of the greatest rewards for all the music I ever recorded. Soldier's Daughter has a life of its own. So much so, other people are making money off of it now, not me anymore. Here is a link to a digital offering on Amazon of my 2000 release Soldier's Daughter. https://www.amazon.com/Soldiers-Daughter-Celticana/dp/B0012AK8IQ
I take this with me as I travel to Ukraine. I want to feel the spirit of a great people fighting for their country, their cultural soul, and their very existence. I truly believe that the only way to fully understand something is to live it.
The aggressors will never exterminate the spirit of the Ukrainian people. Ukrainians believe a person is completely free or a slave. There is great power in that spirit. It is in their DNA and as hard as Putin attempts to genocide the Ukrainian people, to destroy them body and soul, and to erase their history; in this endeavor, he will ultimately fail.
Contrary to what the recent “leaked US intelligence documents” show, there is a massive buildup in the Ukrainian armed forces concerning their 2023 spring offensive. This could be the reason that Lavrov and Prigozhin are calling for an end to the war. It has always been proven that peace through strength works, and we need a Reaganesque attitude and strategy to achieve this. Americans need a return to the exact resolve that Reagan used to defeat the Soviet Union.
Why do Americans continue to fall for every deception of war intended to weaken the alliance? Some say it is to make us tired. To make us believe Ukraine is losing so that we throw them to the wolf. The narratives as led by Trump and that grimacing, hysterical monster Tucker Carlson- “Ukraine is actually losing the war”.
Polish, German, and Ukrainian media tell a completely different story. Telegram channels tell a completely different story. I will tell a completely different story, and from a Ukrainian perspective - one whose resolve is greater than the American spirit at this very moment.
Never Look Away From A Bridge That Is Burning
2023 Ukraine Photo: Oleh Syniehubov/Telegram
DEORAI
(Gaelic for Immigrant) (Pronounced Jo-Rhee)
Copyright 2001 Lauren Comele Morris and Celticana
I feel this next song is appropriate for the Ukrainian people and their spirit. It is called Deorai:
"We are an ancient people, thrown to the westward wind.
Old ways were severed and cast in stone and blood.
Bound in ceremony, bestow the legacy.
Brotherhood and order is a chain that we breed.
Flee Deorai, with one last embrace at a bridge we are burning.
With arms spread wide, Deorai,
the season awaits and the times they are a changing. Ohh.
We worked the hardest labors, deaf from the factories.
While our picks and shovels dug us out of the bigotry.
I can feel their struggles, their eyes and hearts like mine.
Belonging to one another, our songs have stayed alive!
Flee Deorai, and never look away from a bridge that is burning.
With arms spread wide, Deorai, the season awaits,
and the times they are a changing. Ohh."
God Bless the Ukrainian people for whom the aggressors will never erase.
Slava Ukraini!
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