Coffee with Chuck

Song: Home Is Where The Hatred Is (1971)

Artist: Gil Scot-Heron

Album: Pieces of a Man

Thoughts: I tweeted about this album the other day saying it’s “pure magic”. I didn’t mean that in any superficial way I truly believe it is a magically album for how it can make someone feel. I feel as if the album makes you think, reflect on your life, grow empathy, develop a new sense of love of self and others, and can make you move your body. The other day when I was listening to this album I was really moved by the song Sign of the Ages. And I tweeted how the song you not only hear the pain in Gil’s voice put the pain of generations. I was so moved by this song and it really made me think about how we are forced to carry on pain from past generations. As the country is on fire and the world seems more and more like a dystopia while I am simultaneously maturing into adulthood I think about what are the pains that we are passing on to future generations. The pains I am seeing really frighten me and I think about my own ethics in pursing the creation of new life. This is to say will I be ethically comfortable bringing a child into this world in the future? So in these fears I am constantly examining the actions that I can take to alleviate these pains. So today’s song is Home Is Where The Hatred Is, and in this song Gil sings about addiction and how the addiction serves as a home which protects him from pain and hatred. He finds comfort in his addiction. However, the addiction prevents him from his dreams. Today I find myself asking what are the things that I find comfort in and how does that comfort block me from first facing the pain, and two how does this comfort stop my dreaming? If I want to see a world with less pain then I need to really face my pain first with myself and then work to face the external pains and ills of the world. This means I have to do the work. We all have to do the work. Like the old saying “You can’t help others, until you help yourself”. Love and peace.

https://open.spotify.com/track/3pmp40HtLapVQ8L89Mz1vh?si=rnPP_3ZGQZKukJhOrfbjtg