This is a song my sister (Madeline) and I did for my dad for father's day. The lyrics are from a poem by Rosa Lee Sims and my grandmother (my dad's mother) sent to a local newspaper. She saw fit to put it in print... that the editor saw fit to publish it... and that my mother's mother saw fit to cut it out and keep it in 1969... before my parents had ever met in the mid to late 70s... seemed reason enough to take it and turn it into a song. And on top of that, I took it as an opportunity to get my younger sister to sing the words her name sake found important enough to put into the world.
Have to Earn Place in Society
November 24, 1969
To the Editor:
Yes, my generation like the current generation, made its own share of great mistakes and blunders. But what freedom we have today in Europe, Japan, North Africa, and Korea, and a score of islands in the Pacific, exists because hundreds of thousands of young men are lying in graves in Europe, the Pacific Islands, Korea, and now Vietnam. And they're not the only ones who have given a great deal for their country. Go visit a veteran's hospital sometime.
Why do you draft card burners, the ones who go to college to avoid the draft, rather than to learn, you peace demonstrators. You have got the right to do this, because there are brave men in the world. And here is a poem that tells it better than I could:
Living and Dying
By Mrs. Rosa Lee Sims
Take a man, then put him alone
Put him 12,000 miles from home
Empty his heart of all by blood,
Make him live in sweat and mud.
This is the life I have to live,
And my soul to the devil I give.
You "Peace Boys" pent from your easy char,
But you don't know what it's like over here.
You have a ball without trying
While over here the boys are dying.
You burn your draft cards and march down
and plant your Flag on the White House lawn.
You all want to ban the bomb
There's no Real War in Vietnam.
Use your drugs and have your fun
Then refuse to use a gun.
There's nothing else for you to do
And I'm supposed to die for you?
I'll hate you to the day I die,
You make me hear my buddy cry.
I saw his arm, a bloody shred,
I heard them say: "this one's dead".
It's a large price he had to pay,
Not to live to see another day.
He had the guts to fight and die,
He paid the price, but what did he buy?
He bought your life, by losing his,
But who gives a damn, what a soldier gives?
His wife does, And his pop
and mom, And maybe his sons,
But they are just about
the only ones.
There are many courageous young men and women today. And I get a little tired of hearing some people say, "There aren't any responsible young people today." There are! I know quite a few. They are judging the masses by the minority. I help supervise the school grounds sometimes. And all I can say, is you people of Washington can be proud of your teachers, and your schools. They are there to teach your children, but they also help them when they need it, too! These are some of the ones that have gotten an education and used it to help others. Their dedication is sincere, and I admire them.
This happens to be "Thanksgiving week". Well! I am one American that, Thank God, she was born in America.
I also remember that November 11 is what we now call Veteran's Day. I would also like to say thanks to the men we refer to as veterans, who gave up some of your precious years to protect my rights. My husband happens to be a veteran, so does my Dad and brother and scores of cousins. And our nephew came home from Vietnam in June with a purple heart on his chest. But at least he came home. In America you still have the chance to make your own place in society. But you have to earn that place in society if you want it.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Madeline Crowe
In reading what she wrote, I found that I am not too far off from her thinking. I too believe we should have to earn a place in society. I am doing so. I haven't taken a hand out because I'm a capable person of ability, so for someone like me to accept the wealth of others taken via a 3rd party I see as morally corrupt.
I became incredibly active in politics as she was. So, despite having never met her, I wonder how much like her I am. It's amazing how timely her words still are today. To me, it reinforces that the concepts of freedom are timeless. Not flimsy temporary arguments constructed to fit the fashionable ideas of the day and prey on the emotions of the people too weak to see beyond themselves at the bigger world and history of it.
Also, of lesser note, look at the detail that she addresses herself and Rosa Sims as 'Mrs'. I don't address myself as Mr. I don't know anyone today that signs their name like that. We deny ourselves even that smallest sign of respect. Why?
