In “You’ve Got Mail,” Meg Ryan’s character, Kathleen, sits down with Greg Kinnear’s, Frank, to confront the fact that neither is in love with the other. Whereas Kathleen is ready to say that the hope of another exists, she’s not quite there yet. On the other hand, Frank has begun a rather public flirtation with a television personality who interviewed him. He declares, “I just can’t help myself.”
My friend asks me to share the song that I hate to love and another that I love to hate. Well, it’s like this. If I don’t like it, it’s probably now crowded out into the Land of the Forgotten Tunes. So much swirls up there in my noggin’ there’s not enough room to store something if I don’t enjoy at least a bit about it. So, I am not sure I’m going to come up with a song I love to hate. But, I can’t help myself when it comes to Gordon Lightfoot.
I remember riding around in our Orange VW Bus which we appropriately called “Bussie.” Dad popped the 8-track of Lightfoot crooning “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” as we rode around town. He sang along pretty well, I must say. The ballad is beautiful even though it is one of deep sadness. I think I always have loved stories and songs steeped in truth. Truth is important to share, even if it is painful.
In the meantime, I can’t help but share another bit of trivia I discovered by way of another friend this week. It is also a true story of which many are entirely unaware. Tomorrow is the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. The tragedy became the basis of reform of safety standards and responsibilities of employers for their workers. You see, whereas most people die these days from smoke inhalation when there are fires, the Shirtwaist Factory caused deaths to 146 women either by burning to death or jumping to their deaths in order to escape the flames because managers had locked the doors to stairwells and fire escapes were not properly functioning. Most of the victims were between the ages of 16 and 23.
In these days, when we’re thinking a great deal about labor unions and the rights of workers and, as industries move overseas where the legal protections US workers enjoy do not exist, we must remember, come to the aid of others, and in the process, help ourselves. It’s called “doing it unto the least of these.” It’s called doing it unto Jesus.
One more “can’t help myself” tragic story/song: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.
teach me wisdom in my secret heart 