Don’t Laugh At Me…

 

    It had been a busy day. Yes a quick trip to Portland and back, watching a bit of the news for an hour or so and a brief snack and it was just time to “shut down” for a few minutes in a comfortable chair and just relax. And part of that relaxation gets enhanced by asking Alexa to play some music.

   Recently when listening to music I have been going back in time and being a child of the 50s and 60s I have folk music has risen to the top of my list. Whether it be Peter, Paul and Mary or Bob Dylan, as well as a few other names, the hits of the time brings back a lot of memories. And as I listen and sometimes even sing along, if I can remember the words, many of those songs and the verses had a great deal of meaning for me at the time. Who cannot remember “Blowing in the Wind” or “Like a Rolling Stone” and put themselves at some location or at some time in the early days of growing up. Did can honestly claim that at some point they did not have a magic dragon named Puff or search the tool chest to a hammer so that they could hammer in the morning or evening?

   As I sipped on a cool glass of wine and with the melodies of Peter Paul and Mary in the background, there was a song that caught my attention.  Its melody and lyrics were one with which I was not familiar. How could I have missed it years ago?

   After listening to it a second time, I knew I needed to do a bit of research here. How could a piece of music this old and one that I do not ever remember hearing, touch my soul as it did on this day in early January 2023, especially someone my age.

   "Don't Laugh at Me" is a song written by Allen Shamblin and Steve Siskin and recorded by American country music artist Mark Wills. The song was released in July 1998. Since then it has been performed by a number of country and folk song musicians. But as sometimes happens, things and/or events will pop into our lives when we least expect them and share a new message or thought as we navigate life despite how you or old we may be and for me, this is what seems to have happened the other day.

   I asked Alexa to replay the song several times and each time I listened carefully to the words and message. Yes, there were some parts I could really see in my own life, but what was surprising to me was that although written years ago now, the ideas and issues expressed through this song back in the day are still part of the world we live in today. Do we learn from our past, or our mistakes and our experiences?  Do we allow ourselves to really change and grow that much as we strive to be a better person, a better society, or a better world?

   So here are the words of the song written by Allen Shamblin and Steve Siskin and performed by Mark Wills:

   “I’m a little boy with glasses The one they call the geek A little girl who never smiles 'because I've got braces on my teeth. And I know how it feels to cry myself to sleep. I'm that kid on every playground who's always chosen last. A single teenage mother trying' to overcome my past. You don't have to be my friend. Is it too much to ask. Don't laugh at me,

   Don't call me names. Don't get your pleasure from my pain because in God's eyes we're all the same. Someday we'll all have perfect wings. Don't laugh at me.

   I'm the cripple on the corner. You pass me on the street and I wouldn't be out here begging' if I had enough to eat. And don't think I don't notice that our eyes never meet.

    I lost my wife and little boy when someone crossed that yellow line. The day we laid them in the ground is the day I lost my mind. Right now I'm down to holding' this little cardboard sign. So don't laugh at me,

   Don't call me names. Don't get your pleasure from my pain because in God's eyes we're all the same. Someday we'll all have perfect wings.

    Don't laugh at me because I'm fat, I'm thin, I'm short I'm tall. I’m deaf, I'm blind. Hey, Aren't we all? Don’t laugh at me, don't call me names. Don't get your pleasure from my pain’ Because in God's eyes we're all the same. Someday we'll all have perfect wings. Don't laugh at me.”

   I hope that after you read this you won’t laugh at me but simply reflect upon those events and happenings in our lives that make us truly the person we are today.