House Burning Down - Democratic Underground

H2O Man

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Wed Oct-06-10 03:43 PM
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House Burning Down

Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey
Look at the sky turn a hell fire red
Somebody's house is burnin' down down, down down
Down, down, down.

Well I asked my friend where is that black smoke comin' from ?
He just coughed and changed the subject and
said oh wa I think it might snow some
So I left him sippin' his tea an' I jumped in my chariot
And rode off to see just why and who could it be this time.

Sisters and brothers daddys mothers standin' 'round cryin'
When I reached the scene the flames were makin' a ghostly whine
So I stood on my horse's back an' I screamed without a crack
I say oh baby why'd you burn your brother's house down ?

Hey ! Hey ! Hey ! Hey !

Look out the sky turn a hell fire red Lord
Somebody's house is burnin' down down, down down
Look out the sky turn a hell fire red Lord
Somebody's house is burnin' down down, down down down.

Well someone stepped from the crowd he was nineteen miles high
He shouts retired and disgusted so we paint red through the sky
I said the truth is straight ahead so
don't burn yourself instead
Try to learn instead of burn, hear what I say, yeah, yeah.

So I fin'ly rode away but I'll never forget that day
'Cause when I reached the valley I looked way down cross the way
A giant boat from space landed with eerie grace
And came and taken all the dead away.
Jimi Hendrix; House Burning Down

Jimi Hendrix wrote this song in 1968, in response to the riots that took place across America when Martin Luther King, Jr., was murdered. It was a powerful statement by one of the gentle souls of the 1960s, which expressed his concern that the anger and hatred that people were experiencing was beginning to devour them in a tragic way. It is, in my opinion, one of the most intensely important works of art from that bygone era.

Frequently, I tend to write about water-related issues on this forum. But today, after reading through a number of posts/threads here, and listening to Hendrix, I thought I'd try my hand on a fire-related topic. It's a curious force of energy, fire, and one that has a strong relationship to human kind. Used properly, fire can heat a house. We have a central chimney in our home, with three fireplaces that people used back when the building was a stage coach station/post office/doctor's office in the late 1700s and early 1800s. I did some repairs on the chimney when I bought the place, and am always very careful when we have a fire here.

As some friends here know, I have a “sweat lodge” out near my pond. There, my family and I engage in one of humanity's oldest ceremonies, which includes water, fire, earth, and air. Other folks here who have participated in these know that, done properly, one engages in both an internal and external journey. One of the most important things that Chief Paul Waterman taught me about this ceremony is to pray for the “All”: that includes the earth and all of the forces that sustain life upon it; the plants and animals, and human beings. Paul was from the Onondaga Nation, which is the Haudenosaunee – or Six Nation Iroquois Confederacy's – “Fire Keepers.” The Onondaga keep the tribal wisdom, and introduce the knowledge of our ancestors' ancestors into our lives today. Paul was what is known as a “Wisdom Keeper,” which is at once a status of honor and great obligation. The thing that I remember best, which applies to all of us today, was Paul telling me to pray for our enemies in ceremony – because they are actually those who need it most.

That is not, of course, easy. Nothing important in life ever really is. I am, like everyone else, a human being, and prone to experiencing the wide range of emotions we all feel. In recent essays here, I've noted my participation in a conflict in my old home town of Sidney, N.Y., where some Tea Party people in political offices are attempting to force the excavation of the graves of Islamic people there. In the past, I was active in the first case that tested the federal Native American Burial Protection and Repatriation Act, also in Sidney. I'm not fond of racists, ghouls, and grave-robbers. Yet, in order to be properly prepared for next week's public meeting, which will be as hot as any sweat lodge ceremony, I hold on to what Paul taught me.

Years ago, when I was a social worker, I was driving towards a distant town, for a meeting. I had a strange feeling, and so I made an off-course stop at the home of one of the families I worked with. The parents were among the most repulsive, sadistic people I have ever met. However, as I entered their driveway, I noticed smoke. Their house was on fire, as a result of a four-year-old child playing with a lighter as his parents slept. Long story short: I was able to get the family out of the house, although a one point it put my safety at high risk. I was physically spent after that, and thoroughly convinced that I never wanted to be inside a house burning down again.

Around that same time, one of my best friends from Sidney who served as a volunteer fireman had a terrible experience. A local house burned, and he found the burned bodies of two elderly sisters that he had known since he was a little boy. He and I spent a lot of time together after that, and I tried to help him process that experience, though even today I do not think that he has ever gotten over it. I understand that. When I was a kid, one of my uncles was murdered by a guy he had just beaten in a game of cards in a bar; the guy that killed him put my uncle into his car, and set it on fire in an attempted “cover up.” That has stayed with me.

The passions that human beings experience are sometimes compared to fire. That has a symbolic meaning that is easily understood. Like a real fire, human emotions are an energy force that can either be used to our benefit, or rage out of control. It is unfortunately all too common for people to focus those emotions on those they hate, fear, or do not understand. In Sidney, for example, those Tea Party people are aiming their negative passions at a tiny settlement of Sufi Muslims. If allowed to burn out of control, they will destroy a cemetery, a farm settlement, and much more. For when hatred and fear fuel a fire, it will allows seek to burn out of control.

As human beings living in a country that is suffering from the same flames of hatred that Jimi Hendrix warned of, we need to consider what type of society we really want to inhabit. We are not at a point in time where we can seriously think that if our neighbor's house is on fire, our own is safe. Not even if we dislike the opinions of the family next door. No, there is not some line of defense that allows some to sit by and enjoy the suffering of our neighbors, nor should we want or allow that type of thinking to define our communities.

Peace,
H2O Man