"Little Bit Closer" by Sam Fender

I have quite a soft spot for Sam Fender and his always meaningful, touching lyrics (see previously here). This song, "Little Bit Closer" from his most recent release "People Watching" sends a strong message of understanding and support to the LGBT community. Fender has issued statements of support in the past: in July of 2020, he signed an open letter to the UK Minister for Women and Equalities, Liz Truss, calling for a ban on all forms of LGBT conversion therapy. Fender's lyrics here speak to being gay and the shame, rejection, and often-times violence--not only physical but psychological as well--coming from the church and its followers.

He touches on the idea that we are all connected to something larger than us, something that makes the human experience what it is, something that is immutable. But how does one reconcile that feeling of being in awe of the universe and what it contains with a man-made religion that diminutizes that experience while telling you that you are wrong, sinful, possessed by a demon, not worthy of living. Fender questions the source of that rejection, siding with those oppressed by religion, while allowing for those oppressed to reclaim their connection to the beauty of the universe without the aid of religion. Indeed, no religion or any human claiming to represent that religion has any authority to tell anyone they are not worthy of life.

The video stars the amazing young actor Owen Cooper who found fame starring in the recent Netflix limited series "Adolescence" which is an incredible creation, not only for Cooper's stunning, out-of-nowhere mastery of acting skills (that prove difficult even for some adults) but for the jaw dropping one-take method the production used for each episode. If you have yet to see it, I highly, highly, highly recommend it.

They break you in like a wild foal
Target the dole queue broken souls
I don't disagree with everything they do
I was a child in the peak of a panic attack
The proverbial straw that broke the camel's back
Was the wailin' sound of my cousin slain in spirit

Well
Come on, lift your head
Get out your frozen state
You're starting to look like Ötzi now
Come on, wake the dead
Show me you walk on water
And I get a little bit closer to it

Oh, I have friends who were cast aside
A young, meek lad with a curious mind
Just terrified of what the church would have to say
No, I don't know if I believe in Him
But when the rapture comes, if this is a sin
I'll burn with everybody that I know

Yeah
I was lost in their
Sermons and lies at God camp
Tryin' to pray the gay away
Something was shook in me
A birth of a new foundation
That gets me a little bit closer to it

I can't live under the notion
That there's no reason at all
For all this beauty in motion
I don't buy the deities spoke of
But in love, there's something to hold
And I get a little bit closer to it

What is God?
What is God?
What is God?

I never found Him, I never found Him
I can't live under the notion
That there's no reason at all
For all this beauty in motion
I don't buy the deities spoke of
But in love, there's something to hold
And I get a little bit closer to it

I get a little bit closer, I get a little bit closer
I get a little bit closer, I get a little bit closer
I get a little bit closer, I get a little bit closer
I get a little bit closer, I get a little bit closer to it

Thank you, Sam.

https://www.samfender.com/

"Sonder: The Realization That Everyone Has A Story" by John Koenig

Last year I posted about the marvelous John Koenig, author of THE DICTIONARY OF OBSCURE SORROWS, a book of neologisms to express new terms for subtle emotions. One of his words in particular, was meaningful to me.

sonder - n. the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own.

Koenig made a short video to illustrate the concept of this word and it is lovely and moving.

There are more video illustrations of his words at his Youtube channel.

"Sonder" reminds me of the incredible, life-changing film "Wings of Desire" (previously here) by auteur Wim Wenders. When I first saw this film in 1987, I was literally awestruck and truly emotionally devastated by its scope of humanity and the clear presence of the "animus mundi" in the story. For the first nearly ten or fifteen minutes, we follow a pair of angels as they listen in on the voice of humanity itself, going from person to person, hearing thoughts of love, pettiness, despair, hope, regret, and forgiveness from men, women, young and old. I wept openly through that stunning and powerful opening sequence, overwhelmed by the force of so much existence, so much life, so much sorrow and so much joy (listening in, through an angel, to the thoughts of a dying motorcyclist who has just been in an auto accident is heart-rending). And by extension, not just now, but in the past and the time humanity has left.

https://www.dictionaryofobscuresorrows.com/