The power of music

Hearing the news of Pete Seeger's death gave me my moment for today. I learned to play the guitar with some of his most famous songs: This Land is Your Land, If I Had a Hammer, and Where Have All the Flowers Gone, to name some. I can still see the multi-record boxed set of long-playing records featuring the great early folk and blues singers in my brother's apartment where he gave me my first guitar and taught me the basic chords needed to play these songs. I had fallen in love with the whole folk music scene, and even ironed my semi-wavy long hair to try to achieve long straight hair that would swing back and forth like Mary Travers' hair when I played. Hearing those songs can transport me to college and early adulthood in a way that no other music can. Thinking about the power of the music of those years and how it accompanied the major social movements of two decades makes me wonder if there is music today that could fill that role. The world could once again use music that helps achieve social justice, the end of war, and brings people together to lift their voices in common cause.