Not Televised, Blogged

Gil Scott-Heron believed that The Revolution would not be televised. Jack Kerouac did not believe in editing. Hunter S. Thompson never believed that things got fast enough for him. I'm not sure I believe in any of them, but I sure can have fun trying to figure out what they - and others - were trying to say...

Ideas are like water. I have come to believe its that simple. And just that clear.

Life as we know it isn't possible without either water nor ideas. Sometimes there's too many or too much, and that's not good. Sometimes there's even more, and its just fine.

Sometimes there's wars over both. And from time to time, both can stop wars. Sometimes both flow, and sometimes you curse when they don't. Both can turn paper into a pulp.

Both can be stored in public works. Yet both are constantly challenging the limits of those works. Eventually both will get through, or over, or under, or around any dam put in their way.

You don't really give either as gifts, but both can be the greatest gift of all. Both can turn the driest desert into the most wonderfully fertile of places. Both can spring forth trees where there was only loose dirt.

One drop of either can bring joy, or strike fear. Both will eventually end up inside somebody, if only to flow out in the end. Giving either up is only a guarentee that eventually somebody will discover them, and do with them what they please.

Both should be released for people to use, interpret and then set free again for others to experience, enjoy and build upon. And despite all the handles I've given both, neither are under our control in any way, shape or form.

---

Whitey on the Moon, Gil Scott-Heron

A rat done bit my sister Nell.
(with Whitey on the moon)
Her face and arms began to swell.
(and Whitey's on the moon)
I can't pay no doctor bill.
(but Whitey's on the moon)
Ten years from now I'll be payin' still.
(while Whitey's on the moon)
The man jus' upped my rent las' night.
('cause Whitey's on the moon)
No hot water, no toilets, no lights.
(but Whitey's on the moon)
I wonder why he's uppi' me?
('cause Whitey's on the moon?)
I wuz already givin' 'im fifty a week.
(and now Whitey's on the moon)
Taxes takin' my whole damn check, Junkies makin' me a nervous wreck, The price of food is goin' up, An' as if all that crap wuzn't enough: A rat done bit my sister Nell.
(with Whitey on the moon)
Her face an' arm began to swell.
(and Whitey's on the moon)
Was all that money I made las' year
(for Whitey on the moon?)
How come there ain't no money here?
(Hmm! Whitey's on the moon)
Y'know I jus' 'bout had my fill
(of Whitey on the moon)
I think I'll sen' these doctor bills, Airmail special
(to Whitey on the moon)