The Eagle and the Hawk

     “I am the eagle I live in high country, in rocky cathedrals that reach to the sky. I am the hawk and there’s blood on my feathers, time is still turning they soon will be dry. All those that see me and all who in believe in me share in my freedom I feel when I fly. Come dance with the West wind and touch on the mountaintops. Sail o’er the canyons up to the stars. Reach for the heavens and hope for the future and all that we can be, not what we are.” John Denver, The Eagle and the Hawk lyrics.

     Think about what John is trying to say here. If you see the video it makes a lot more sense than just reading the lyrics. Imagine yourself flying through the canyons of the Rocky Mountains, soaring up into the sky then back down towards the valley below. The sun shines over the land through sparse high clouds, just wisps of white in a blue sky. The freedom that is yours to have with no restraints is exhilarating. But, the last line is the one that I want to talk about.

     “Reach for the heavens and hope for the future and all that we can be, not what we are.” Think about this really hard. I don’t mean, “Oh, yeah. I get it. If ya try for the stars ya won’t come up with mud.” What I want you to do is to actually THINK about what Denver is saying here. Throughout the entire song he is talking about freedom and what it would feel like to have absolute freedom from everything. So, if we reach for the heavens and have hope for the future, maybe, just maybe, we can become more than what we are.

     Buzz Malone has a great blog where he talks about past things (especially since he just turned the big 40) and how things have changed with time. Not just that, he has a lot of good posts that are well worth reading but, he also looks back to where we came from to where we are now. I would like you to continue that and imagine where we can be in the months, years and decades to come. Will we be the free people that we have been in the past or will we become the slaves of a tyrant? That tyrant could very well be ourselves. Freedom is not free, that is the part about the ‘blood on my feathers’ in the song.

     What does it take to get where we are going and where, exactly, are we going? I really don’t know. I have dreams and hopes for humanity but I also have my fears and misgivings. I want to reach for the stars, dream of a future that is as free as the eagle and the hawk, soaring above the mountains in a crystal clear sky. I want to dance with the West Wind while living a life without care. Will it happen? Who knows? I know that with a simple blog, one man can make a difference. For good, or bad, one voice can change the world.