POLITICS of HOPE

January 8, 2008

I think being an American, a black American, attracts a lot of South Africans young people. I’ve told you about Serge and maybe another guy. There’s a third person named Sun. He, too, will stop by unannounced, but he does it really really early in the morning. Sun comes to hang out EVERY DAY! And he comes as early as 5:30 AM. Because we’re scheduled to meet around 9 or even 8 (earliest) I always think it’s that late in the morning because he couldn’t possibly come at 5:30 AM. But he does. Sun is persistent. And he hangs around as long as he can. Many days he doesn’t go away (he comes after work even) until 8 at night. And that’s just him saying his good byes. It can take a while for him to completely go away for good that day. So it’s a bit hard and takes some getting used to for me. He makes it a long day, a really really long day.

If you were to enter my house, you would see that there are three hand soaps to choose from when washing your hands. Which do you choose? Your own, silly! This is some of the strange ridiculousness I see in the non-community communal living.

HOME

Anna’s father is here! He’s a nice man, an Anglican priest with a heart. He’s the reason the house was bought so that they could have a presence in Bianca and Lemise’s lives and help out through Anna (they could not ignore the meeting and do nothing when they first visited SA and met the two girls). He’ll be with us for a month. And then Anna will be in the UK for February. Jeannie comes tomorrow (Thursday); and Haley, Friday!! YAY! I’m a pretty stoic person, but it’s hard to remain unexcited when by myself because no one can see me. . . . . . . . .well, there’s another reason. It’s nice to have someone in your life who known you for a long “time,” with whom you have a deep connection. I don’t necessarily mean “time” because I’ve only known Jeannie for a year. But they are connected to me through a common blood that boils, surges, and revitalizes our thinking and vision in this world.

UPDATE

Regarding my finger (I forgot to respond about this) a number of e-mails ago. I’m well, thanks. Thank you to all who showed concern and contacted me, though it wasn’t that many. It was merely a test, as I put pieces of the truth (or joke) throughout the e-mail, so depending how much you read you might find out that it was a joke or find out that the joke was a joke and real or . . . you get the point. Judging from the responses, only 1.87% of all seven of you (Yayyy, after another family asked to be extricated from the list, two people joined. With seven, we’re REALLY growing!!). Some people would say they don’t understand that percentage. Let me explain. If there were 5 people (instead of the great 7) on the list then each person, assuming she reads the whole thing, contributes only 20%. If one of the people reads only say a quarter of the message, then that person contributes only 5% (since that’s 25% of her 20%). And so on. So that’s how I arrived at that. As some people don’t read it at all. Some skim. Some take great pride and joy in deleting with panache and gusto. And I invite all of you to submit your best videos (they can be digital) of you deleting the e-mail with the most excitement.

I accidentally wrote that Western Sahara was Burkina Faso. It was late, and I think I was confusing the directional part of the name. Burkina Faso and Upper Volta are the same. And I think the Upper and the Western were switched in my mind. Sorry about that.

RESEARCH

You may not believe this but last week (the week of New Year’s) was the first week I’ve actually worked on my cardiology project for patients with thinning arteries. All I’ve been doing for four months is lecturing, reading, preparing for lectures, advising masters students (don’t ask me how I can do this), writing research articles, submitting to journals, making presentations, meeting about the direction of the center, planning a new group computer code (program) for what we do, etc. So now I’m actually getting into the actual new work. It’s a go!

Oh, and Nature Physics said the same thing saying though they appreciate the physical nature of the fluid dynamics of the parachuting problem (I’m assuming as compared with Nature) they don’t feel the work in the paper represents a sufficient advance (ouch) in general understanding to excite the immediate interest of their broad readership. So same thing as Nature; send it to a discipline-specific mag. So I’m taking a break from that one. I might combine it (as I was thinking) with one of the other 3 articles that are still in review, or might continue with the plan to next go to Physics Today as the last broad one and then on to a general journal within a more tightly defined audience (the AIAA one I mentioned before). Right now, I’m taking a break from it for a bit.

I have finally found a supercomputer to use or a cluster to work on for computational work. I took for granted the ease of having a supercomputer available and the freedom with which I used it (usually they cost if it’s government or proprietary). I’ve also managed to make my desktop a parallel” computer since it has a dual core processor. I’ve got a parallel compiler working on it. And I’ve just a few more things to do in order to actually be able to run some simulations for the first time in 5 months.

SINO-AFRICAN NEWS

China’s officials have been in South Africa lately courting us more and more. They’re the 4^th largest economy and the 2^nd largest energy user, and they are trying to tap African resources. Especially with the price of oil going over $100/barrel, countries like Nigeria to whom people are increasingly looking within the continent for oil resources (which can be affected by corruption), become more important not only to Africans but Chinese as well. I think (as many Africans do) that they are slowly taking over the world. They are starting to come into their own and exert a dominance that probably will not be felt for years to come but it’s started.

Many people will be watching them as they host the 2008 Olympics. One important point is the fact that they are not allowing in foreign chaplains for the athlete’s religious observance which they contend that they are honouring. They will be providing their own Chinese, appointed chaplains to minister. It’s a bit of a touchy subject as it is normal practice today with the Olympics to allow foreign chaplains into your host country.

Being from the oil capital, or HQ, of the world (Houston, TX), I even know coal and oil workers/businessmen who are smarting from the Beijing ordinance that all construction and factories shut down for 6 months to clear their continually degraded air. I’ve seen it. I don’t think I saw the sun in that city once while there. It goes from black at night to a lighter and lighter grey. And then the grey gets darker and darker until it’s black again. Different Chinese people said different things: some said actual pollution like smog where the smoke is from factories; others said dust particulates from construction. I think it was a mixture.

Distrust, here, also arises here due to their mingling and intermingling with the Sudanese government in more ways that one. Most notably they are alleged to be funding the government with arms. Incidentally, I heard the same pastor that talked about growing up in townships listening to Pointer Sisters refer to the Darfur one as a Christian issues in which Muslims were going up to Christians asking “Are you a Christian?” and if the questioned says yes, the questioner blows the head of the Christian off (with a gun). I had never heard of it like that before. I know they are a Muslim group perpetrating the violence, but I had never heard of it with a specific anti-Christian spin.

HOMELESS CARS and CARLESS HOMES

I passed by two homeless people today (Tuesday) after seeing my half-price movie, and I happened to be clutching change in my left pocket while passing them. Homeless people must have some type of spiritual perspicacity or something because they always greet me or try talking to me. It could be that I sometimes dignify them with a glance and a greeting. But even with no greeting, they always talk to me or solicit me, rather. Anyway, this time, I just smiled at the man and woman and kept going.

I then began to examine my actions. Yes, there are people who justify not giving change or money to beggars, but I was not one of them. I mean, even to this day, I could not systemically or categorically justify never giving to these people. I definitely contribute to changing the system that creates the poverty, but I have never been able to feel good about addressing the roots while ignoring the symptoms. I always feel like you still need to handle the present crisis.

I walked back to them as I had walked away based on others’ thoughts. And I gave them each change. They were so thankful. I think they knew I had just passed them. The man let me know that they were homeless almost in a way to explain why they needed the change. They were very thankful. And the guy tried to give me a hand greeting, the kind where your fists hit like clinking glasses or mugs. But I didn’t understand and instead tried to hit his fist from above. They said a few more things, and I headed home. Although I feel relationship and conversation is very important and needed, in this case what I needed to do was give, as I felt God speaking.

I have often done the thing where I take the person to get food (though these people were not asking for money for food as that’s usually the most pressing need). But it brings up an interesting point. How do you feel about it? To read a ridiculous, funny, interesting, somewhat long take on it by 4 different “intellectuals” check out this article.

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/09/freakonomics-quorum-the-economics-of-street-charity/

And I’m looking for a car. I narrowed it down to my German friend, Wiebke’s overpriced car (R20 000), a buyback place that buys back the car in 3 or 6 months or longer, and a beetle rental place that decreases the monthly rental price (starts at R1 950) by R100 as you increase the number of months (1950 for 1 month, 1850 monthly for 2 months, 1750 monthly for 2 months, 1450 monthly for 6 months, 1250 monthly for 8 months, etc.).

The problem is that the buyback place wants it all upfront (which I don’t have if I want to live), and they buy it back at only 2/5 of the price on average. I don’t think they should depreciate that fast in 6 months. I think they are making money (of course)

The beetle place is perfect. I can get a car for R11 000 for 18 months. But investment-minded people consider that a waste of money. I’m throwing my money away. Instead, why don’t you get a car, buy a car, and then sell it and get the money back? It makes sense. But you still need all the money up front. And I would loose that much (buyback cheapest car is 25,000 and after 6 months I would sell it back for 10,000; I would need it longer than 6 months so I would receive less back) anyway. And, thirdly, I wanted to give the car away to a friend. Unfortunately car-ownership falls along racial lines here, and I don’t know (I’m sure there are a few) black students who have cars, definitely not at Church-on-Main. But anyway, thinking practically, if you don’t have a choice of purchasing one, then why bother. I am paid 6 months at a time, so I could do it in March if I wait. But I do need a car for Jeannie and Haley for a month, by which time Haley will have left to Grahamstown and Jeannie will have bought a car for herself.

The fact that I can consider buying a car is a huge thing to me because many people here do not have that luxury of the question. And to that end, I think I’ll be fine in the city without one, now. This is a new realization, but if they can do it, I can do it. It’s not a necessity, just a large inconvenience without it.

Anyway, in heeding the investment-minded people, I may just rent for a month. I just hate paying 2000 bucks when I could have paid 9 more and had it for 18 months. We’ll see. All the cost analysis reminds me of politics and making voting decisions.

I got the car (Thursday) and put extra drivers on it so that Jeannie and Haley could have something to drive in when they are here. Someone thought that was silly of me to listen to the investment-minded people, especially as to just buy a car requires a sufficient amount of income. Perhaps it was a bad decision. I got the car for one month for them, and should I decide to do it in the future, I can get it for 18 months or so. So we’ll see. The research will be helpful for Jeannie who is looking to buy a car. I found a nice one for her should she like it.

HALEY AND JEANNIE

They are a bit funny. The airport meeting was very funny. Jeannie unfortunately has been sick and was sick before flying, so flying only made it worse as well as swelling her ankles. I was able to see her (Thursday) before we left together to pick up Haley. She looked good for someone who was about to go to the hospital for an emergency last night (Wednesday night)—she had trouble breathing between coughs and spats (as well as sleeping). She’s better now, of course. But I haven’t been concerned enough about her. It’s not that I haven’t been concerned, but I think the normal person bombards and constantly asks how someone like that is doing and my mind works a bit differently.

So we went to the airport to get Haley at the airport. I feel bad for her, she had a 14 hour lay-over in London and somehow it was suggested to her that my cousin pick her up (bad idea). My cousin is Nigerian and older and generally we have a different cultural concept of time. On top of that, Peace can be scattered sometimes, and she mistimed something and so she could not stay at the airport to wait, but had to run to take the kids to school (and she doesn’t live near the airport) and then find out the correct place the airport to go and then come back. So it was a mess and she was 4 hours late.

It’s a bit strange to have them here. It’s as if within me I had a well-guarded secret that I could perhaps pervert its appearance knowingly or unknowingly in presenting or motivating action back home. And now people have arrived that can themselves peer into this strange place and see something different or correct or readjust my lens. In truth, it’s a wonderful thing, and they will go on to do much better and lasting things than I while here (they are Rotary Ambassadorial Scholars, something far better than I have ever done).

It’s also a bit strange for me because Haley was the reason I considered not teaching at YES for a third year. I believe I was unfairly pressured to give an answer before the date that I was required and I gave a no answer if forced to give one (and I was) before I was supposed. When I had come to a decision naturally outside of a forced answer (still before the deadline), the job had been given away. And so here I was, needing to find something. And I looked for something here. The position I have is the ONLY thing I looked for in the entire country, and somehow God provided it to me when I don’t feel worthy or competitive. I was very unsure about being here as I thought perhaps it goes against the direction I was taking and wasn’t sure I wanted to deal with academia, if I was just doing what I had done most of my life, etc. And so to see the person that motivated you to originally attempt to come is a bit strange. Jeannie and Haley represent different spheres of life, and now they have invaded each other. It’s quite interesting. Some people love it; they try to mix all friends as much as possible.

I’m learning to do it, though really I don’t motivate-I mean initiate outings. My friends always do and I come along. I think if I had enough breathing time at home not doing anything I would, but there’s never a need. I’m overjoyed to have them here, like I said. To see people with whom you have a strong connection and do not have to explain yourself (though I must explain myself all the time to Jeannie and Haley ha ha ha! ;-) is a wonderful thing. To feel someone in your town knows you is a great thing. It’s both reassuring and correcting, challenging and necessary. So it’s nice, and I welcome them.

They are really funny to me, though. I’m smiling as I write this. When they talk to South Africans they put things in dollars and use American words for things even when the South African has mentioned it first with the ZA word. (I think the dollars thing doesn’t bother ZA people because in international conversation the USD is the most common currency to use a frame of reference though I hear the UKP & EUR used as well)To be fair they just arrived. But it doesn’t make it any less funny.

Jeannie has noticed that Cape Town beaches are very diverse which is a bit different than I’ve seen. I don’t know if it’s because she goes at night when you have a lot of people out there doing their night out or if it’s because from a South African reference, though the beaches have non-white people, it’s still non-representative of the population as it heavily leans away from the black population. It may be the second; I’m not sure. The other idea she challenged was about Mbeki not liking white people. If the SA white people who told her this said it because of his comments a few years ago on AIDS, I don’t put much stock in it because you have to say a whole bunch of blacks (not just Africans but Afro-Caribbean people as well) don’t like white people because many feel AIDS is a white thing. African people are a bit tired of negative things being associated with their continent including saying AIDS started here and was brought to an “AIDS-free and pure” America (north and south) from its birthplace—Africa. But this is not the first, but one of a string of associations. So they get tired of it a bit. I think it was silly of him not to see the scientific and statistical connection between HIV and AIDS, and as a national leader I wouldn’t make the comments he made, but I think it’s natural for him to think those thoughts. Jeannie also asked me about the American political race. Will you permit to give you an international perspective?

POLITICS of HOPE

Obama. What can I say? Let me start by explaining my sister, Clinton. First, I tried to list last names on that female list (last update) because we have some weird problem where we refer to men by their last names and women by their first names. I won’t talk about what that suggests; I just think it’s interesting. They do the same with the Chancellor in Germany (the Germans). I think her name is Angela, but they call her Angie.

Anyway, when you look at African state history (which is relatively little since the states are so new) [and actually in SOME Latin American and Asian state history, the rule is the] incumbent wins the election (elections where all candidates are new are different). When full true democracy comes, that changes, and many states have. Some states, though, go through a period of a superficial democracy or a façade democracy in which the old rule still stands. That’s why you can have leaders who were leading when I was a little kid. And now I’m a little bigger kid and they’re STILL leading (what!). So we have situations like this in Libya (1969), Maldives (since ’78 Gayoom), Egypt (1981), Zimbabwe (since 1980 Mugabe), and Kenya (as you see today). Even places like Cuba and Castro.

Most people agree that diversity of leadership over time improves the holistic health of a nation. Diversity in general improves output and quality especially in situations that are creative (research for instance in any academic discipline even seemingly noncreative). So it makes sense that it applies to leadership which (if great leadership) incorporates creativity. So people have trouble with al-Qathafi (al-Ghadafi/Qaddafi), Mubarak, Mugabe, Gayoom, and Kabiki. And al-Qathafi has the audacity (opinion; he’s been leading since about ’67) to want his son to rule after him AND to have the USA. I almost think he might want a similar type of leadership for the federation of the USA. I don’t know. But it’s hard. And African people want a change. The level of involvement of the opposition in the election process was a good change for Kenya, so that people WOULD know if an electoral result was a farce or real. Kibaki has only been in power since 2002, but his predecessor, Daniel arap Moi, was in power form ’78 to 2002. I don’t think they want this to repeat; they are tired of such.

So do you understand, now, why people around the world or at least in these parts might not prefer Clinton winning? That would be over 20 years of Bush or Clinton contending for a position in the white house or ruling (actually it’s over 20 now if you including running). And that starts to feel or tends to feel like entitlement—where one family feels entitled to such things as the presidency or the premiership or whatever top job represents your country.

On the other hand with Obama, I remember critics trying to say that he was the Islamic (sorry for using religion) militant choice or the choice of terrorists. The paradoxical thing is that if those people prefer you in office, it’s actually a good thing, at least in this context. If you’re someone making them mad, that’s not good. But if you’re someone who can bring people together, somewhat appease hurt feelings around the world, or at least not exacerbate our relations with other countries, that is a good thing.

If you think Kenyans were dancing in the street when he got elected Senator, wait to see what happens across the continent if he’s elected president. I don’t know that every country will go crazy, but I believe there will be some celebrations. The funny thing is when African TV reporters try to interview his grandmother or his uncle (Kenyans); I saw that on TV today on the news. And the reporters act as if his grandmother is in contact with him coaching him on his campaign strategy or what he should do if he wins. It’s funny.

WEATHER

We’re having record-setting (within past 100 years when official records began) days of constant rain across the following countries: Zambia, Milawe, Zimbabwe (27 have died already), Mozambique. So things are a bit of a mess, and different countries are trying their own methods to alleviate the stress in the situation. Zambia has a multi-million dollar contingency in place, and we’ll see if it’s used effectively.

Kenya is a mess. People have lost jobs. Businesses have closed down. I’m sure the US media is covering it, so I won’t write much. But if not, let me know, and I’ll write more about it next time.

The government in Malawi has started hoarding oil reserves so as not to have to buy petrol/gas should there be a price hike even further on the $100/barrel price peak.

FASHION & SOUTH AFRICA

Here in South Africa they have a certain style of fabric and women’s clothes that you would call retro in the US. Only it is not a fad here, but a mainstay, a common style that you will see many girls, black and white, wear during the spring and summer. There is a spectrum and so some are on the pure “retro” style you have there and would pass in the US for that. Some are less flower-power or less brown-and-black and can involve any set of colors and slashes/patterns (not just floral) and lean more toward something similar to African patterns in the cloths used for pan-African formal wear. I call it Afro-pop mode. It’s very nice and popular. I gave some welcome gifts to Jeannie and Haley, and one thing was to make sure they had summer outfits since it would be warm when they arrived. So I got them each one of those, but a light dress that they could wear casually.

Besides that things are a bit normal here. It’s still strange for me to see a developing country deal with developed country dealings. So there is a battle between gun owners (my sense is that the gun owners association are white people; I’ve seen the spokesperson at the very least) and those wanting tougher stiffer gun control laws. The gun owners say it’s not the gun owners who are the problem. And they are being unfairly targeted, they say. But violent and armed crime is a HUGE problem (remember just think of any negative statistic you have back at home, it’s Usually worse in this unequal economy).

Last year (2006) we had 1,440 deaths in car accidents. It went down to 1,142. But they still have a way to go. It’s very high, and drunk driving is a big problem. So they have advertisements about it to curb it. I’ve only seen advertisements with actors who are in dramatic situations (like a party or something like that) with black people. I don’t know if that’s important or not. Just an observation. I won’t judge it’s meaning here.

In all these things and more, it is very similar. But again though all part of your society affect you, even if indirectly, it’s like two worlds. With the two examples above, yes, I could be hit by a drunk driver, but I would never worry about driving drunk as I don’t have a car or a license even (as a carless SA person, stereotypically black person). Or, assuming I’m a law-abiding citizen in a township or city, I don’t own a gun (I don’t go hunting, can’t afford one, and don’t shoot for target practice). But again, just like a car might hit me driven by a drunk driver, people in my family or city might acquire a gun illegally and shoot people. So there is always an effect but the directness of it does not hit all.

Some of the kids here have returned to school again for the ’08 school year. I don’t think there is analogous MTV beach party summer shows like there is in the US. But this wonderful children’s music and fun countdown (like a better TRL with elementary kids because it does other non music stuff; the music countdown is not central) went to the beach for a few weeks back around New Years. Maybe for two weeks they had summer shows at like water theme-park places. It was great! They had a really cool song for their summer show that was just good in a kid-simple-moving-beat way, ya know? Anyway, I thought it was neat that they had a kid show like that and they did summer beach shows. Number one on the countdown, by the way, is still the wonderful Alicia Keys reigning strong on some slow song with a beat. Maybe it’s called “No one.” OH! And the show is only weekly, Saturday morning, not like TRL daily.

MUSIC & MOVIES

By the way I mention movies or plays not because they are necessarily South African or related. I guess it’s a way for me to feel connected or something. I miss a few things that make me feel internally disconnected (music, drama, etc.). That makes it hard, possibly (maybe not, I’m still thinking). But I do miss it a lot. And I’m always watching good actors and seeing what they are doing and learning even from movies. That’s why I watch a lot. I remember seeing pieces of Mystic River right before I had to do Othello. And I watched Sean Penn (he’s always in torment, ha ha!) for some help. He’s very skilled.

Away from Her

It’s about a couple dealing with Alzheimers, and it’s very heartbreaking and sad. It’s amazing the sacrifices that were made in this. I never thought about such decisions if you are married to someone who has Alzheimers. Interesting discussion point. Very good acting. Wouldn’t be surprised if there is academy nomination. I also wouldn’t be surprised if there isn’t. It’s subtle acting.

Forgiveness (SA movie)

It’s a movie with the guy from “The Mummy.” Not Brandon but the guy with black hair (he might have been bald in the movie); I think he was the mummy king trying to come back to life. I liked it. He’s one of the SA policeman or secret apartheid enforcers who worked at the “farm” where they really tortured, brutalized, and killed blacks. Anyway, he killed a guy, and post-apartheid he wanted to go to his hometown and talk with his family and ask for forgiveness. It doesn’t go well, and so he decides to leave town. But the daughter and son of the family try to keep him in the town because they have called their late brother’s friends from somewhere else in SA to come and kill the white guy. Very subtle, slow, powerfully speaking movie. I’ve never seen anyone embody forgiveness like Mandela.

Indie Arie & Serge

So Serge (you remember him; he still asks me about my friend Vanessa Acker every time he IM’s me) was saying to a friend of mine that secular music is bad. I was trying to explain to him that I dislike the term secular. From a religious standpoint—forget that—from an African standpoint (I’ve said this before), there is no separation. Everything is seen as happening in connection with God. And so a song about the grass is not anti-God or secular; it’s actually quite God-filled. A song about washing the dishes is likewise. There is no secular. I personally use the term secular only for something that actually is anti-God, not for something neutral. But Serge was showing through scriptures and the spirit of God how God only inspires people to write music that names him and invokes that name directly. I was offended because I feel I have been inspired by God to write many things, and music-wise I’ve written songs that are not about God directly. I’ve SEEN and HEARD songs that are not about God but people who have the love of God in them. He said that is wrong and an abomination (he didn’t say that but he was saying something like that). So it was getting a bit ridiculous for me. He quotes a lot of the Bible but I find he seems (this is an in-depth analysis and most people even Christians do not think this; actually I’ve not heard anyone say this) to be regurgitating things from Big guys in the US (Creflo Dollar and TD Jakes). It’s a bit like religious “Good Will Hunting;” he has no creative insight of his own, and so he is limited by what they say. There is no personal understanding apart from the others. I don’t really quote the Bible as much as he, but he was angering me (righteous anger), and so I explained that the book of Esther doesn’t mention God once (I was shocked that he didn’t know this with all of his “knowledge”) and I also referred to the Song of Solomon and a few of the Psalms (like 45—a wedding psalm). Actually I didn’t mention the last two because the conversation ended, but I would have if I cared to do so, but it didn’t seem to matter.

[I was at a Bible study meeting with COM people. And they asked each person to tell what God-dreams they had and things God had really put in them to do. Do you know that EVERY single person said something about being a preacher of the word, or a teacher of the word, or a great worship leader or something like that? I was very disgusted not with the people but the thoughts (I love the people and people in general). There wasn’t one relevant thing. I don’t doubt that what they feel is real. I just wonder if that is really God. The God I know puts into the heart of his people relevant Christianity—one that cares for the homeless, raped, widows, AIDS orphans, township people, etc. And with soo much here, so much work to be done, I couldn’t understand it. Where was God in their God-dreams?]

So I know you remember I mentioned Indie Arie. I am still inspired by her though I haven’t heard her in many months (since last NH summer). The reason I mentioned her especially in the e-mail about Oprah is that she was asked by Oprah to do a song for her kids in South Africa. I’ve heard it, and it’s beautiful. Secondly, she has two songs about forgiveness on her latest album (I think it’s the third). We played this album non-stop with the Ghana-kids service trip throughout the year while fundraising. It’s very inspiring for the kids and really is good uplifting beautiful messages from the heart of God. But it’s not Christian music. Anyway, one of the songs about Forgiveness (Wings of Forgiveness) mentions Gandhi, Mandela, and Jesus. She changes the bridge that leads to the chorus each time and she uses a different person. I’ve put them below. It just reminds me that there’s no one I cannot forgive for anything. Better put more affirmatively, I can forgive everyone anything they have done with examples like these men. It’s what this country needs as well as countries across the face of the earth in places like Cote D’Ivoire and Rwanda and Bosnia and Kosovo and Germany (where some Jews celebrate the end of WWII unconditional surrender and Russian Jewish veterans celebrate that they stomped out the German plague on that day; yes even inter-ethnic forgiveness is needed) and Russia.

"Wings Of Forgiveness"

I just want you to know
After everything that we've been through
I just want you to know
That I still love you
That I still love you:

Had to go
Across the water
Just to find
What was here in my heart all along
Spend so much time
Trying to be right
That I was dead wrong

If Nelson Mandela can forgive his oppressors
Surely I can forgive you for your passion

You're only human
Let's shake free this gravity of resentment
And fly high, and fly high
You're only human
Let's shake free this gravity of judgment
And fly high on the wings of forgiveness

Had to run
To the arms of curiosity
Just to find
What was here in my life all along
I had found that the art of simplicity
Simply means making peace of your complexity

If Gandhi can forgive persecution
Surely you can forgive me for being so petty

I'm only human
Let's shake free this gravity of resentment
And fly high, and fly high
You're only human
Let's shake free this gravity of judgment
And fly high on the wings of forgiveness

I've searched for romance
Flowers and affection
What I found is a lesson
Of what love really is
Found the game of love is
Not about how much you can take
In fact authentic love is about
How much you can give

After everything that we've been through
I just want you to know
That I still love you
I want you to know
That I forgive you
(thank you for teaching how to give)
And I wanna let you know how much you changed my life
I wanna let you know you taught me how to fly
And I wrote this song to tell you this
I'm better cuz you taught me how to give

I took a swim
In the sea of guilt and misery
To find myself in an island
In the middle of nowhere
In my solitude
I asked to know the highest truth
And what I was told
Is to let own self be true

If Jesus can forgive crucifixion
Surely we can survive and find resolution

Let's keep it moving
Let's shake free this gravity of resentment
And fly high, and fly high
You're only human
Let's shake free this gravity of judgment
And fly high, and fly high
Let's keep it moving
Let's shake free this gravity of commitment
And fly high on the wings of forgiveness

After everything that we've been through
I just want you to know
That I still love you
I want you to know
That I still love you
And I wanna let you know how much you changed my life
I wanna let you know you taught me how to fly
And I wrote this song to tell you this
I'm better cuz you taught me how to give

I still love you
I want you to know
I still love you
Want you to know
I still love you
(And I always will love you)
And I wanna let you know
I forgive you
I wanna let you know
That I still love you
Want you to know
I still love you
I just want you to know
I still love you
Want you to know
I still love you
Want you to know
I still love you
And I wanna let you know
I forgive you
I wanna let you know
I still love you