The song, The Eve of Destruction, came on while I was eating supper tonight, and it stuck a nerve in a way it normally wouldn’t have.

The news seems to be filled, everyday now, with stories of murder or suicide, countries ravaged by war or the latest, most heartrending event-

children who are being forcibly removed from parents trying to give them a better life.

I’ve felt sick reading the news this week, so sick that I’ve had to shut it off. But the people living though this horror can’t shut it off, which makes me feel so much worse.

And then this song came on.

Barry McGuire was the singer who took the song to the top of the charts, but it was written in 1964 as a protest song by P.F Sloan, a 19 year old who was deeply affected by the current events of the time.

The world seemed to be crumbling, with Vietnam hotly debated, civil rights marches, Eastern Europe in chaos, and communism.

The eastern world, it is explodin’,

Violence flarin’, bullets loadin’,

You’re old enough to kill but not for votin’,

You don’t believe in war, but what’s that gun you’re totin’,

And even the Jordan river has bodies floatin’,

But you tell me over and over and over again my friend,

Ah, you don’t believe we’re on the eve of destruction.

Sounds familiar to me. Only we can replace some of the locations, different groups of persecuted,

while other events have stayed almost exactly the same.

Yeah, my blood’s so mad, feels like coagulatin’

I’m sittin’ here just contemplatin’

I can’t twist the truth, it knows no regulation

Handful of Senators don’t pass legislation

And marches alone can’t bring integration

When human respect is disintegratin’

This whole crazy world is just too frustratin’

In fifty years, what’s changed? We are still seeing genocide, state ordered executions and people barely surviving.

But a strange thing happened today while I listened to what is arguably the most depressing song I know.

I felt hope.

I was surprised, and had to examine why in the world I would have this feeling, in this week.

In fact, I’ve been thinking about nothing else since.

And the conclusion I’ve come to is that yes, bad things are happening in the world.

But we hear about them now, when fifty years ago we wouldn’t have.

We have men and women who are willing to stand up and say, “no more”.

People protesting from all walks of life, both from the oppressed and the privileged.

And the part that inspired the most hope for me?

That it’s been over fifty years and we didn’t self destruct.

We have time to make this world a better place.

So write your representative, volunteer for a cause.

Stand up against racism, sexist or classism of any kind.

Be a voice in the din.

You can change the world, even if it’s only by showing your courage and inspiring someone else.

Because my friend,

I don’t believe we’re on the verge of destruction.

I want to believe that we are on the verge of changing the world for the better instead