Recently, Bruce Springsteen was interviewed about his new album, "Wrecking Ball". He spoke about the lead song of the album, "We Take Care of our Own." Bruce said that he is asking the question, "Do we take care of our own?" I am not sure of whom he is asking the question. If he is asking me, I have to answer, "Yes boss, I have a wife and a 9 year old girl that I take care of daily.We have another daughter who is living on her own, paying her bills and working, and still another daughter in college who we send money to monthly.I have a son who I took care of who is now serving his country as a Marine. So, yes boss, I am taking care of my own. I can not only answer for myself, but I can also testify to what I see in my community. Bruce seems to say no one is doing anything for anyone when he says, "There ain't not help, the calvary stayed home, no one hears the bugle blowing." Bruce sounds like a politician blowing out glittering generalities out of his own bugle. I will give a couple of examples of what is happening here on the ground in my community. A group of men started a ministry to the homeless which grew into what is now called LAHIA. (Love and Hope in Acion). They feed, clothe and provide many other services for the poor. You can visit their site:
http://lahia.org/ My church donates food on a weekly basis and friends from LAHIA pick it up once a month. This is just a small example, and all of us know there are countless faith based or community based organizations doing this type of work every day in all 50 states. Relationships are built through this, people know faces and names, and they care about each other. We are the calvary Bruce. Stick it it your bugle. My wife is a school teacher who not only dontates her time and energy sacrificially going way beyond what she is paid, but she also bought clothes for a less fortunate student who she cares about deeply. She is my local hero. This goes on all the time throughout the country. My parents' church in Lakewood, NJ, right in Bruce's backyard, has a big food bank where they also give out clothes, baby supplies etc. all of the time, every day. This goes is happening in every community. And, I know Bruce is aware of this because he always highlights a local charity in every city he plays, and from what I am told, all the T-Shirt money goes to local charities. So, I am not sure what Bruce is talking about. Is he throwing his hat into the political fray and talking politics here? In other words, is the question being asked of our government? If so, he is asking the wrong entity because the government can't even take care of themselves; they are broke, flat broke, and one of the reasons they are flat broke is because they are trying to take care of those they have no business taking care of. We are in a big mess because the government, for the sake of their own power and greed, has tried to be all things to all men giving anything to anybody that will vote for them. In other songs, Bruce seems to go after corporate greed, bankers and "robber barons." I heard no mention of the corrupiton in Washington and his own democratic party that he seems to support each election, so if this album is asking the question of those who want smaller government, less spending, less government interference, I have to say the album is a bunch of political rhetoric, and Bruce is no better than the politicians, no better than the government. The only difference is Bruce is not broke. The government can't save us, and they can't take care of us. They need to get out of the way and give power back to us in our communities--we do a much better job because we are motivated by faith, hope and love, not power, pride and greed. So, the anwer to your question Bruce, for me and those I love is yes we do.
PS. I am going to see Bruce in Tampa this month and I am looking forward to a good concert; Bruce and E Street are still the best band in the land, musically speaking.
Also, I invite all my readers to leave examples of people taking care of their own in the comment section.
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