They dance alone.
They’re dancing with the missing
They’re dancing with the dead
They dance with the invisible ones
Their anguish is unsaid
They’re dancing with their fathers
They’re dancing with their sons
They’re dancing with their husbands
They dance alone They dance alone -STING
Today I read an article that stirred some thoughts I had the other day. I was in the shower, where I do most of my thinking, and my ipod was on shuffle. A song called “They Dance Alone” by Sting came on. If you are not familiar with it, the premise is thus. Sting travels to Chile. He sees a country torn apart by a brutal Pinochet regime. He meets people who have lost loved ones to torture, execution, and prison. He is particularly moved by a mourning ritual where he witnesses women of a village gathered together and they are all dancing…Not with each other. But alone. He gets closer and sees that each woman is holding a picture of a man they have lost. A father. A brother. A husband. A son. And they dance alone. It has always moved me. And the other day I thought of how this applies to mothers who mourn lost loved ones from a different battle. Pretty intense thoughts for the shower, I know.
The article I read today stirred up those shower thoughts from the other day. The NY times reports of a deadly form of crack cocaine that is the scourge of South America. In Argentina and Brazil Hundreds of thousands of lives are being destroyed by a drug called “paco.” It is basically a garbage form of crack. It is mostly chemicals and cleaning agents with a splash of cocaine paste. Its an intense and highly addictive high. Lasts about 15-20 minutes. And costs….About $1.50! It is wiping villages off the map. The police feel powerless. The dealers run the show. And the children are dying. And just like here in the States, sometimes it is the parents, specifically the moms, that have to fight back. We have MADD. Well in a little village of Ciudad Oculta in Argentina the mothers are fighting back. One woman lost two sons and now she is marching with some of the other moms in the neighborhood. Risking her life. Defying the drug dealers. Going after the drug dealers. Walking and protesting and raising her voice. What else can she do? What else can we do?
I have seen my Mom bury two sons. I talk to students Mom’s after every one of my shows. My heart breaks. The thought of these women…mourning…alone…I can’t write anymore.
Thats all
Below are two links. Check em out.
Link to the NY Times article on “paco.”
The other is the youtube video of “They Dance Alone” by Sting.
