Truth is Simple

Why do we choose to complicate life?

Robert Fulghum brought this to everyone’s attention in his book, ‘All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten’. Life can be quite simple if we master the basic rules, be polite, think of others, learn to share, etc.

The Golden Rule is another example of the simplicity of truth. This rule is so basic that it is found in many religions, expressed a bit differently, but always the same idea.

This is hard to read, so feel free to go to this site to comfortably read it: https://favs.news/should-we-be-voting-based-on-the-golden-rule/

These basic ideas are so simple but as we grow up, we lose our sense of simplicity. We are exposed to the importance of intellect, the need to analyze and critique. We love to find exceptions to those basic rules. ‘Yes, we should do unto others as we would have them do unto us, but what about when someone is nasty to me. Don’t I have the right to put them in their place?’

Intellect tends to make us self-centered and since we need to justify self-centered behavior, because our conscience tells us that is not right, we become very good at finding every tiny loophole to present any action as acceptable.

When intellect dominates heart, we are on the path to doing the unacceptable. That simple truth becomes endless debates by theologians and philosophers. Religious believers who were losing their lives were not at all interested in how many angels could dance and head of a pin, but theologians were.

Let’s try to get back to those simple truths. When Rodney King was beaten by the Los Angeles Police, provoking riots in the city, he tried calming this down by simply saying, “I just want to say – you know – can we, can we all get along? Can we, can we get along? »

Simple truth, but no one listened.

Let the sun shine!

Paris: the city of light, they say. It did not get that nickname because of the weather. Winter in Paris is cold, humid and dreary.

This morning the sun was shining and it felt so good! Unfortunately, by noon the clouds had rolled back in and it was bye-bye sun, hope to see you soon. The afternoon was a game of peek-a-boo, with the sun sneaking out every now and then.

The news acknowledged this sunny day by reminding us that the last time we had 3 consecutive days of sunshine was September. They also mentioned that during these last five months, we have had three 6-day periods with no sunshine.

We installed solar panel on the roof around 12 years ago and their production has nose-dived this winter. There have also been numerous floods around France, due to very heavy rainfall. We have escaped any direct impact from them although some areas only 5 kms away faced closed roads for two days.

Fortunately, my better half and I got away to Florida for Christmas and the New Year to visit our daughter and her family. It wasn’t as sunny as I hoped, but we did soak up quite a bit of sun!

For my birthday, I received a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle of several hundred Mickey Mice all jumbled together, a most challenging puzzle! I set it up on a big table in our veranda, which heats up like a greenhouse when the sun makes an appearance. Even on the coldest days, the veranda warms up enough that we can have lunch or do puzzles, without turning on the heat.

It has taken a long time, during this Parisian winter, to put it together, but I’m slowly advancing on it. I’ve reached the hardest part now and it’s a piece by piece search to find where each one goes.

It’s time to rethink everything…

What a Bunch of Monkeys Taught Us About Motherhood—and Why It’s All Wrong

I came across this blog today and appreciate those who take time to question why we see things the way we do. In this case it’s a reflection on ‘motherhood’ and why we have certain concepts about it. The example of Margaret Mead deciding the raising her child differently, after her experience with the natives of Samoa, is a wonderful example.

It’s time for all of us to begin questioning why we accept certain things as ‘normal’. One man’s normal can be shocking to someone else. Ready to have snails for lunch???

It’s been a while!

Photo by Blue Arauz on Pexels.com

Long time, no see! My last post was in December 2017 and after that, life was just too busy.

Life is a funny thing. We can easily loose control over it and we never have enough time. I retired about 4 years ago and I still didn’t have enough time.

So, as I move into this new year, I have decided that I have to take more control over my life. I’ve been quite involved in several associations, which I’m happy to do, but there seem to be too few people doing too much of the work.

I’ve decided that I will begin saying, ‘No’, to some of things that are asked of me and I won’t feel guilty about it!

I turned 70 last year and because of that big, round number, it seemed a good idea to do some check-ups to make sure that there aren’t any hidden problems. My health has always been good and I was taking no medicine, but I got an appointment with my doctor explaining that sometimes when working in the garden or walking fast, as I tend to do when I’m in the city, I would feel pressure on my chest.

There were no obvious problems but he sent me to see a cardiologist and a dermatologist. Finding appointments with specialists is not easy. The appointments with both of them were 4 – 5 months later.

The cardiologist was not happy my cholesterol level, feeling that it had been too high for too long and my doctor should have put me on medicine for it years ago. She phoned for an appointment at a hospital for my heart to be checked, insisting it had to be done ASAP.

At the hospital they ran a tube from the artery in my wrist to my heart and examined it well. After, the doctor announced that the main artery was completed clogged, as if it were no big deal. The other arteries were fine and the heart was in good shape, it was just the main artery that had a problem.

Ten days later, he unclogged it, put in 3 stents and I went on my merry way with 3 pills a day to take.

Then it was the dermatologist’s turn. I have a lot of spots and bumps and my wife has been saying for years, “I don’t like those, you should see a doctor.” There were certain spots that had me wondering if they could be skin cancer, but the doc brushed them off as no big deal. At the end I showed her a small place between two fingers that I thought might be psoriasis, but she said, ‘no it’s not’, and thought it could be a problem. She put some of that super-cold stuff on it, it turned brown and fell off about a week later.

She also saw a red spot on my arm that she didn’t like and prescribed a cream to put on it, five days a week for six weeks. It is still a bit red now and I’ll have to go back and get her to look at it again.

So, I move into 2025 feeling good about my health, trying to get more control over my life and remaining focused on my role as a grandfather.

We have seven grandchildren now and three of them come stay with us for at least two months every summer. It is very tiring, but it is a source of such joy and happiness, as we have the chance to see them grow up and try to offer them as much love and support as we can.

A new project for this year just came to me this past week as I joined in a four-day on-line writer’s bootcamp. By the end of the bootcamp I felt pushed to write a book. Let’s see how that goes.

Voilà. 2025 is moving forward and it feels good!

Le Père Noël existe ! (Santa Claus exists !)

(To read in English, scroll down.)

À plusieurs occasions, notre jeune président a répondu aux ouvriers renfrognés en disant, « Je ne suis pas le Père Noël ! »

Saperlipopette ! Si Emmanuel Macron n’est pas le Père Noël, qui est-ce ??? Est-ce que le Père Noël existe ???

Cette semaine nous avons eu la preuve que le Père Noël existe et, de plus, Emmanuel Macron l’a rencontré !

Il a été si pressé qu’il ne pouvait pas attendre Noël. Il est allé lui parler dans sa résidence d’été. Quand même, le Père Noël ne passe pas toute l’année au Pôle Nord.

Ainsi Emmanuel Macron est monté dans son avion présidentiel, une chose de moins sur sa liste de Noël cette année, et il a fait un vol de 6h30. Puis il a fait un peu de route à travers le désert et il s’est trouvé devant le Père Noël.

Il ne le reconnaissait pas à première vue car le Père Noël ne portait pas ses habits d’hiver, rouge et plein de fourrure blanche. Il a été habillé toute en blanc. Le Père Noël a demandé au petit Emmanuel ce qu’il voulait pour Noël. Emmanuel a expliqué qu’il avait baissé dans les sondages et il avait besoin d’un bon résultat économique pour remonter.

Le Père Noël a bien rigolé en disant, « Les doigts dans le nez ! » Puis il a dit à Emmanuel, « Je vais commander :

12 avions de guerre Rafale, avec une option sur 36 de plus (€1,1 milliard)

50 Airbus A321, avec option sur 30 autres (€5,5 milliards)

Un métro ET un tramway du SNCF/RATP (€3 milliards)

et une lettre d’intention pour 490 véhicules blindés Nexter (€1,5 milliard).

Avec une commande pareille, €11,1 milliard, tu vas créer des emploies et tu vas surement monter dans les sondages, mon petit ! Ho ho ho !! »

Le petit Emmanuel est renté à Paris si heureux avec sa visite chez le Père Noël. En arrivant chez lui il a tout raconté à Brigitte en disant, « Il est vraiment chic le cheikh Tamim ben Hamad al-Thani de Qatar…euh je veux dire, le Père Noël ! »

Santa Claus exists!

On several occasions our president, Emmanuel Macron, responded to disgruntled workers saying, “I am not Santa Claus!”

Gee whiz! If Emmanuel Macron is not Santa Clause, who is??? Does Santa Claus exist?

This week we had proof that Santa Claus exists and, what’s more, Emmanuel Macron met him!

He was in a such a hurry that he couldn’t wait for Christmas. He went to see him at his summer home. You don’t really think that Santa Claus spends the whole year at the North Pole, do you?

So, Emmanuel Macron got into his presidential plane, one less thing on his Christmas this year, and off he went on a six-and-a-half-hour flight. Then after driving for a while through the desert, he found himself standing in front of Santa Claus.

He didn’t recognize him at first because Santa Claus wasn’t wearing his winter clothes, red with white fur. He was dressed all in white. Santa Clause asked little Emmanuel what he wanted for Christmas. Emmanuel explained that he had gone down in opinion polls and he needed some good economic results to go up again.

Santa Claus got a good laugh out of that and said, “That’s a s easy as falling off a log!” Then he told Emmanuel, “I’m going to place an order for:

12 Rafale fighter jets, with an option for 36 more (€1.1 billion)

50 Airbus A321 airliners, with an option for 30 more (€5.5 billion)

A metro line and a tramway from French state-owned companies (€3 billion)

and a letter of intent for 490 Nexter armored military vehicles (€1.5 billion).

With an order like this, €11.1 billion, you are going to create more jobs and you will surely go up in the opinion polls, my little friend! Ho ho ho!!”

Little Emmanuel went back Paris so pleased with his visit to Santa Claus. When he got home he told Brigitte all about his trip saying, “He’s really a nice guy that Sheikh Tamim ben Hamad al-Thani of Qatar…uh I mean, Santa Claus!”

Harvey Weinstein: the monster we created

The collective moaning and groaning about Harvey Weinstein goes on and on and grows louder and louder as more and more people jump on the bandwagon.

But no one seems to be asking the right question: Why was he allowed to continue his sick behavior for so many years? I would be willing to bet dollars to donuts that most people in the entertainment industry, the press and many political leaders were all aware of his out of control sexual appetite. Yet, it was allowed to go on for years and years.

Now that it has come out into the open, the crowd gathers around, picks up stones and starts throwing them with all their might. Hmm, reminds me of a story about a wise man who found himself standing before a hate-filled crowd ready to throw stones. He simply said, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” As his words sunk in, one by one they dropped the stones and walked away.

But today the stones are flying. And it is those who enabled Weinstein’s actions for so many years that are throwing the hardest.

What we all need to think about is how did Weinstein become this monster who felt totally justified in using his position to use and abuse women.
He became that man because of the society we have created. Just as those in the entertainment industry, the press and the politicians enabled Harvey Weinstein, our society has been Dr. Frankenstein creating oh so many monsters. And we all stand by and let it happen. We are all enablers (enabler, noun: one who enables another to persist in self-destructive behavior, such as substance abuse, by providing excuses or by making it possible to avoid the consequences of such behavior).
We have enabled our society to become one in which pornography is not only accepted, it is on our TV screens. What was considered pornography when I was young (I am 63 years old) is on TV screens today and is considered completely normal and acceptable viewing.
Pornography is everywhere today because it is on smartphones. Children are being exposed to pornography at younger and younger ages on school playgrounds because of smartphones.
Some might be shaking their heads and wondering why this old fogey is talking about pornography. They might think porn is harmless.
I beg to differ. Porn probably turned Weinstein in to the monster he became. Porn plants in its victim’s mind the idea that women are simply a source of short-term pleasure. Objects to be used and thrown away. Because they begin seeing women in this way, it is very difficult for them to build a true relationship with a woman. They live in a fantasy world where women do what I want, when I want.
The real world is not like that. So, they continue living in their fantasy world to get their ‘real’ pleasure elsewhere because a wife will never live up to that fantasy world.
And when a man like that becomes successful and has power and authority, he can become a monster. Our society has given him that permission through the self-centered, individualistic messages that it transmits day and night. “Get what you want when you want”; “if it feels good, do it”; “there is no right or wrong, we’re free to do what we want”; etc., etc., etc.
And to all those expressing their righteous indignation about Harvey Weinstein…Where was your righteous indignation when Bill Clinton was playing sexual games with a young White House intern? Where was your righteous indignation when ‘50 Shades of Grey’ encouraged acts which put women in the position of passive victims to men’s desire for domination? Where was your righteous indignation when characters in ‘Game of Thrones’ behaved exactly like Harvey Weinstein?
Drop your stones and do a little soul-searching. We are all guilty of enabling a society which allowed Harvey Weinstein to become what he is.

Freedom of Speech and Charlottesville

“I Disapprove of What You Say, But I Will Defend to the Death Your Right to Say It.” This quote is attributed to Evelyn Beatrice Hall, a British historian.

This quote takes us back to a time when freedom of expression was taken seriously.

Alas, we live in an age when people are easily offended and this freedom of speech is being set aside to protect those overly-sensitive souls who cannot bear hearing something they disagree with.

What took place in Charlottesville was a small group of people exercising that freedom of expression. I, as a grand majority of Americans, disagreed with them. But they do have the right to express themselves. That freedom of expression is in the Bill of Rights which was added to the Constitution to protect our freedom. You remember the Constitution? It is the like the instructions with IKEA furniture, not always easy to understand (look at our presidential election) but useful. The Constitution explains how our country is supposed to function. Freedom of expression is one of the guaranteed rights that we all have.

Are we ready to throw out that right of free speech? If we do, what do we throw out next? Freedom of the press or freedom of religion? I know a lot of people want to throw out the right to bear arms, but again when you throw out one right where do you stop?

This subject needs to be addressed. We are on a slippery slope here. It is not just Charlottesville. It is university campuses across our nation that are refusing to allow freedom of expression.

So, how should we react when someone expresses something we do not agree with? Well, we could get angry and fight with them. Oh, that means we are denying them that freedom of speech. Some would say freedom of speech is fine but not for everyone. We have to make an exception for racists or for Al Gore or for __________________ (fill in the blank, everyone has someone they think deserves to be muzzled). But remember that pesky Constitution and it’s Bill of Rights…

If we are not going to get angry and fight, then how should we react when someone expresses something we do not agree with? Well, we could follow the example of Martin Luther King and Gandhi, non-violent protest. And they both applied this means of reaction when confronted with violent people who wanted to take away their freedom of expression!

Imagine a movement of people who disagree with racists which organizes a counter-demonstration by lining the streets, silently and non-violently, turning their backs to the racists to show their disagreement.

If that had been done, the press would have reported; “A group of racists marched today in Charlottesville. Non-violent protesters lined the street in silence. Afterwards everyone went home.” No big deal. And a much better outcome.

I think that would have been the intelligent way to show disagreement while respecting their constitutional right of expression.

Or even better, just ignore them. Let them have their little rally and say, “You guys are so lame we’re not even going to waste our time on you.’ Again, no big deal.

And that is exactly what this event in Charlottesville should have been, no big deal.

Hail to the Chief

Today Donald Trump will be sworn in as the President of the United States of America.

I must admit that 18 months ago, I told friends that the Trump campaign was giving everyone a good laugh and a good show but he would never be the Republican candidate. As he grew stronger and stronger during the primaries I could only shake my head and wonder what was going on.

I did not vote for him, voting instead for Libertarian Gary Johnson to show my disappointment in the two big candidates. But our constitutional system worked as our Founding Fathers established it to.

Today Donald Trump will be sworn in as President of the United States of America. The people have spoken and I accept their choice. It is not the result I wanted but so be it. I am not going to whine and cry about the outcome of the election. It would never cross my mind to boycott his inauguration, well since I have never been to an inauguration and probably never will this is not really an issue for me. But I am shocked by those elected officials who are boycotting the inauguration. They are elected to represent all their electors. They are elected to a position of responsibility in which they put the constitution first and their personal feelings second.

And the idea of those who would like to disrupt the presidential inauguration leaves me baffled. I understand that people do not like him but disrupting an inauguration is a slap in the face of our constitutional system.

This inauguration is a testimony that our constitutional system is alive and well. This is something that Americans take for granted. They do not realize how incredible it is to live in a country which has been quite stable under one constitutional system for more than 200 years.

I live in France and in the same 200 year period this country has gone through an emperor, several kings and is in its 5th republic. And a certain number of politicians over here are calling for a constitutional convention to establish a 6th republic.

While the United States, applying the ideas of the French philosopher Montesquieu on the separation of powers, established a very stable constitution that has withstood the test of time. The idea of disrupting a presidential inauguration shows a total lack of appreciation and respect for the system that guarantees their right to throw temper tantrums. It would be good for these people to spend a few months living in Turkey or Venezuela or Zimbabwe. They might then realize how fortunate they are to live in the United States.

Today Donald Trump will be sworn in as President of the United States of America. I am nervous, just as many of you are. I do not know what to expect from President Trump, just as many of you do not. But I refuse to give into fear and a mountain of ‘what-ifs.

From election night my attitude was, regardless of who won, “I am going to pray that this works out for the best.” Too many people have already passed judgement even though he will only take office today and he has not yet done anything. Of course, he has said and has tweeted things which got people worked up but there is often a big difference between what candidates, presidents-elect and presidents say and what they do.

And what I have come to feel in recent weeks about President Trump can be summed up by that great philosopher, Mick Jagger:

“You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need.”

Today Donald Trump will be sworn in as President of the United States of America. Could it possibly be that he is what we need?

Our world is stuck in a system in which all our political leaders are playing the same game of being politically correct with each other. They seem to be part of the a ‘World Leaders Club’ which has a tacit agreement that no national leader will criticize what takes place in another country, even if it should be criticized.

What makes people nervous about Trump is that he is not polically correct. He says what he thinks and everyone is so used to the previous status quo that they are shocked.

Let me offer two examples of events since the election that illustrate this point.

The first was a few days after his election when he accepted a telephone call from the Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen. “How dare he go against the tacit agreement that no one in the ‘World Leaders Club’ communicates with Taiwan’s president!”

Why should China be able to dictate who other world leaders talk to? Why should China be able to act like a schoolyard bully in south-east Asia and no one dares speak about it? Why should the world accept in total silence China’s forced annexation of Tibet and their efforts to eradicate the native Tibetan culture? Why should China be able to dictate that no world leader can receive the Dalai Lama and why does everyone bend over backwards not to offend China on this point?

Maybe we need someone like President Trump who is going to be politically incorrect and who speaks about things that need to be addressed.

The second example was just a few days ago, when President-elect Trump was interviewed by two European journalists, British and German. Among the comments that shocked those who are used to the usual polite comments between friends, was the President-elect’s thoughts on Angela Merkel making a “catastrophic mistake” taking in so many Mideast refugees and calling NATO “obsolete.”

“How dare he criticize Merkel and NATO!” It does not matter that the entire world thinks she made a mistake by taking in so many refugees (and everyone seemed to ignore that before the ‘catastrophic mistake’ comment he expressed his respect for Mrs. Merkel). It is just something that those in the “World Leader Club” do not say! The same for the NATO comment. Some things are better left unsaid.

Today Donald Trump will be sworn in as President of the United States of America. And that might turn out to be a good thing for the United States and the world if he manages to shake up the status quo and the hypocritical, politically correct attitude of political leaders, journalists, et al.

As the Rolling Stones say, “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need.”

Trumbo

The Mrs. and I saw the movie “Trumbo” last night and it is very good. It’s about the “Hollywood Ten” a group of blacklisted scriptwriters, and in particular Dalton Trumbo the unofficial leader of the group, during the Communist scare of the 1950s. We see the support they received (very little), the betrayals they suffered (very painful) and, finally, the victory they won (very satisfying).

This movie is a reflection on what happens when we let fear rule us and decide to go against the basic rights set down in our constitution. These men were blacklisted because they belonged to the Communist Party.

As the movie begins we read that the Communist Party developed during the depression years and that as the Soviet Union became our ally against Hitler, membership increased rapidly. The US government did not allow criticism of “Uncle Joe” Stalin during World War II. There was nothing wrong with being a member of the Communist Party at that time.

But with the cold war Communism became something scary and being a communist was unacceptable; unacceptable to the point that the 1^st amendment right of free speech was side-lined concerning communists.

These ten scriptwriters were never accused of spying or being involved in actions against the government of the Unites States. They simply belonged to a political party that had existed since 1919 and one day certain people decided their 1^st amendment rights no longer counted.

This story is something we are reliving today. People against guns want to do away with the 2^nd amendment. But once you undercut one amendment what’s to stop you from undercutting others.

People with certain sexual orientations are using the scare tactic of ‘intolerance’ to browbeat those who disagree with them, trampling on their 1^st amendment rights of freedom of religion and freedom of speech. They make full use of their 1^st amendment right of freedom of speech but want to deny the same right to others, just as the right of freedom of speech was denied to the Hollywood Ten in Trumbo.

This movie is a reminder of the damage done when the rights ensured by our Bill of Rights are ignored. What was done to the Japanese-Americans during World War II was disgusting. German-Americans were not rounded up and put in detention camps. But because Japanese-Americans were “different”, their 1st amendment rights didn’t matter.

Can we learn from the past or are we doomed to endlessly repeat it?

Still standing, head held high

Demonstation in Paris following the terrorist attacks in January.  Manifestation à Paris à la suite des attaques terroristes en janvier. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

(Descendez pour la traduction en Français.)

There have been far too many terrorist attacks around the world and, for the moment, it does not seem to be letting up. How can we react to this sad, oppresive situation? It is up to each one of us to remain standing, head held high and to keep the attitude; this too will pass.

Throughout history people have been forced to live through difficult situations and they often had to endure much greater difficulties than we are presently experiencing, the occupation of their country by enemy forces, genocide, being sent to labor camps, etc.

There were two types of people who came out of those experiences. The first type was those who were broken, full of anger and resentment that they often held onto for the rest of their life. The second type was those who held their head high with the attitude that they were not broken and after surviving what they did nothing could stop them from living a good life and finding love and happiness.

There is a song which captures this spirit, Polonaise by Jon and Vangelis. Jon Anderson, the lead singer of Yes, collaborated with the Greek synthesizer musician, Vangelis Papathanassiou, in the 1980s.

At that time the shipyard workers in Gdansk, Poland, led Lech Welesa, created the Solidarnosc trade union, the only trade union in the communist bloc of Eastern Europe that was not controlled by the Communist Party. It went beyond being a simple trade union and became a social movement advocating civil resistance to improve workers’ rights and to instigate social change.

The Polish government reacted by declaring martial law and sending riot police against Solidarnosc. Inspired by the struggle of the Polish people to stand up with their heads held high and insist that change had to come, Jon and Vangelis wrote this song.

It captures the spirit that all of us, confronted by this senseless, savage violence, need to embrace; strong, united and, as in the picture above, still standing, head high and not afraid.

Here is a video with the lyrics of the song. (I’m not satisfied with this video with its beautiful images of beaches and sunsets but it’s the only one with lyrics I could find.)

 

 

 

Toujours debout, la tête haute!

Il y a trop d’attaques terroristes autour du monde et, pour le moment, il semble que cela va continuer. Comment réagir à cette situation triste et pesante? A chacun de nous de rester debout, tête haute et de garder l’attitude : ça aussi, ça passera.

Au cours de l’histoire les hommes ont dû traverser des situations difficiles et souvent ils ont vécu des situations beaucoup plus difficile que la nôtre, l’occupation de leur nation par une armée étrangère, le génocide, des camps de travail, etc.

Deux types de personnes sont passés par ces expériences. Le premier type, ce sont des personnes qui restent brisées, pleines de colère et de ressentiment qu’elles gardent souvent jusqu’à la fin de leur vie. Le deuxième type, ce sont des personnes qui gardent la tête haute avec l’attitude qu’elles n’ont pas été brisée et après avoir survécu à cette expérience elles savent que rien ne pourra les empêcher de vivre une bonne vie et de trouver l’amour et le bonheur.

Il y a une chanson qui capte cet esprit, Polonaise par Jon et Vangelis. Jon Anderson, le chanteur de Yes, a collaboré avec le musicien grec Vangelis Papathanassiou dans les années 1980.

A ce moment-là les ouvriers du chantier naval de Gdansk, en Pologne, avec Lech Walesa à leur tête, ont créé le syndicat Solidarnosc, le seul syndicat en Europe de l’est qui n’était pas contrôlé par le parti communiste. Solidarnosc est devenu beaucoup plus qu’un syndicat, il est devenu un mouvement social qui prônait la désobéissance civique pour améliorer les droits des travailleurs et pour entreprendre des changements sociaux.

Le gouvernement polonais a répondu en déclarant la loi martiale et en envoyant la police anti-émeutes contre Solidarnosc. Inspiré par la lutte du peuple polonais de rester debout ave la tête haute et d’insister que le temps de changement était arrivé, Jon et Vangelis ont écrit cette chanson.

Elle capte l’esprit, que nous tous avons besoin d’embrasser, face à cette violence sauvage et insensée ; forts, unis et, comme dans la photo ci-dessus, restons debout, tête haute et sans peur.

Ci-dessus la vidéo avec les paroles en Anglais, je n’ai pas trouvé les paroles en Français. (Je ne suis pas satisfait de cette vidéo avec ses images de plage et de coucher de soleil mais c’est la seule avec des paroles écrites que j’ai pu trouver.)