It’s All About Soul
Yesterday I was taking a motorcycle ride on a sunny Saturday and chose to head inland towards the mountains. The Mount Palomar Observatory is forty miles away and while I rarely actually go up to the gated observatory at the very top of the mountain, I do regularly ride the switchback road up the mountain from the West and ride down the sweeper road that heads south to Lake Henshaw (or vice versa). Even the road to the Mt. Palomar access road, which runs through both the Pala and Rincon Indian reservations, is a fun and lovely ride with minimal traffic. State Rt. S6 is the tight switchback road that legions of motorcyclists test their knee-scraping skills on. I always wave those hot shots by because while I respect their passion and their riding ability, I have no desire to take it the 9/9 limit. The ride down the Rt. S7 to the South is far more gentle and just as pleasant with sweepers instead of switchbacks. Based on the time of day, I chose to go to Henshaw Lake first to have a bite of lunch at the Lake Henshaw Cafe. I could have gone two miles further to a place called Josie’s Hideout, where all the bad boy bikers hang out, but for some reason I am always less inclined to congregate where the other bikers choose to tread. I love biking and bikers, but there is something about biker bars that just feel too hackneyed for me.
After a bowl of chili and a Diet Coke, eaten through a mask, I headed up the S7 for one of my favorite rides. The same road ridden in different directions is a different ride, and heading North on S7 is a favorite. For some reason, the high alpine meadows remind me of Yellowstone and old ranching families that still work the land with cattle or bison and lots of hay bales. It is a peaceful ride and I’m always happiest when I’m riding it as I head home for the day. I ride these days with a half-lid helmet that is sold by Sena and called the Cavalry. It has Bluetooth speakers that cast sound from the speakers down around your ears. In some ways it is the best of all audio worlds on a motorcycle. If I use my full-face Shoei helmet, my head and face are better protected but it gets hot in the summer with only minimal airflow and the speakers give excellent sound, but it’s so immersive that all you can hear is the speakers to the exclusion of the other things in the world around. If I use bike-mounted speakers like I had on my last several bikes, I can hear them at low speed, but forget it over 40 mph. The Cavalry isn’t perfect, but I can put on my iPhone playlist of happy songs or road songs depending on my mood. It makes a pleasant ride so much more pleasant if I can lose myself in some good music that’s familiar to me and reminiscent of happy days.
There are only a few artists I really favor in music and they are both a bit older, but also have the common element that the lyrics are strong and speak to me. People make fun of me because I like Meatloaf, but his lyrics are amazing and his tempo is pretty up-tempo. His song Everything Louder Than Anything Else (Wasted Youth) is a tell that Meatloaf doesn’t believe in subtlety. But while I like Neil Diamond, John Denver, The Beatles, Willie Nelson, Bruce Springsteen and others, no one rings my bell more than Billy Joel. As I was heading up Palomar Mountain from the South on S7, suddenly Billy Joel came on, but not just any Billy Joel song, this time it was It’s All About Soul. Many times I just lightly listen to song lyrics if I am distracted, but today I had nothing on my mind but the sunny skies, great road and amazing scenery. So, the song lyrics drilled straight into my brain, or should I say, into my psyche.
During these times, relationships are getting strained just as they are most needed and most important. Most songs are love songs in one form or another, but It’s All About Soul is about much more.
It’s all about faith and a deeper devotion
It’s all about soul
‘Cause under the love is a stronger emotion
She’s got to be strong
‘Cause so many things getting out of control
The point is that the essence of all human endeavor rests in the soul of man and the soul of the people of the nation and the world. It is hard to capture the soul of the world since the cultural and religious differences are so vast that pinning down and characterizing that soul might prove very difficult. In the last five years, many have written about the destruction of the soul of America during the Trump era. Note that I don’t put it all on Donald Trump, but he is the embodiment of all that is so very wrong in the country right now in extremis. I would argue that it has already gotten dark and cold and the last traces of human kindness are not in evidence in the Republican camp. These are, indeed, the times that try men’s souls. Thomas Paine penned those words in 1776 and made it clear that no one other than God had the power to govern their lives. There is no doubt that Thomas Paine would be at the head of the class of those demanding a cessation of Federal troop actions in cities like Portland where protestors are being harassed and denied their inalienable rights.
It’s gonna get dark, it’s gonna get cold
You’ve got to be tough, but that ain’t enough
It’s all about soul
There are people who have lost every trace of human kindness
There are many who have fallen, there are some who still survive
Billy Joel is far wiser than we might think. There is enough sorrow in the world now to drive a plentiful supply of joy. We all must stay the course and remain hard and fast with the principles we believe in for human rights and justice. I am embarrassed to report that the UN Commission on Human Rights has seen fit to condemn the United States government, specifically the Trump Administration, for what it sees are human rights abuses in the ordering of Federal troops to stop, detain and use force against peaceful protestors. The Trump Administration has now completed the dismantling of the American soul.
It’s all about joy that comes out of sorrow
It’s all about soul
Who’s standing now and who’s standing tomorrow
You’ve got to be hard
Hard as the rock in that old rock ‘n’ roll
But that’s only part, you know in your heart
It’s all about soul