So far on social media, you can’t get canceled for being a country music fan. At least I don’t think the Thought Police have gone that far in America.
And that is a good thing, because I am a country music fan. One of my favorites — I know because I listen to him a lot — is Toby Keith. Even if you don’t like or follow country music, you probably know that Toby died in February of this year after a battle with stomach cancer. He was 62.
I never met Toby, but one person who knew him well was Willie Nelson. Willie said Toby was a good man, a good friend, and a good songwriter. He noted that Toby wrote Beer For My Horses, and that they had “a pretty good run” with that one.
The song, co-written with Scotty Emerick, went to number 1 on the country charts, and all the way to 22 on the Hot 100. Part of the reason is that it’s fun. Another part of the reason is that the message is one a lot of people want to hear.
The chorus says:
Justice is the one thing you should always find
You gotta saddle up your boys
You gotta draw a hard line
When the gun smoke settles we’ll sing a victory tune
And we’ll all meet back at the local saloon
We’ll raise up our glasses against evil forces
Singin’ whiskey for my men, beer for my horses
Why justice seems hard to find
Beer For My Horses was released in 2003, but even then these lines were accurate:
We got too many gangsters doing dirty deeds
We’ve got too much corruption, too much crime in the streets
That’s still a problem, of course. However there are two or three issues that keep us from getting justice for the victims of those “dirty deeds,” corruption and crime.
One of those is fuzzy lines.
The song says, “You gotta draw a hard line.” In case you aren’t familiar with that idiom, allow me to help.
To “draw a line” is very simply to set a boundary. But here is an important note: you don’t actually draw the line, whether that is in the sand or on the street. Someone, often someone with authority, says, “I’m drawing the line right here.” That means you’ve reached the boundary and the consequences of stepping over the boundary will be severe.
I’ve heard that phrase used by coaches, by parents, and once by a principal. (In that one, I may have just been observing.)
The best picture of it ever was in the movie Support Your Local Sheriff. James Garner played the sheriff, and Bruce Dern played the criminal he had put in jail. But the jail had just been built, and the bars and doors to the jail cells hadn’t been installed yet.
How do you keep the prisoner in? The sheriff used white paint and drew a line on the ground where the bars should go. Near the line he put a splotch or two of red paint.
When the criminal was in, the sheriff said “Don’t cross that line.” Then he explained to the prisoner that the red on the floor was blood from the last fellow who crossed the line. Beautiful!
There are almost no hard lines today, but there are a lot of fuzzy lines. That’s a problem.
Who draws the line?
With a hard line you know if it’s been crossed. With a fuzzy line it is often tough to tell. In fact those fuzzy lines seem to get up and move on their own.
Here’s what really happens. The people in charge of the line move it for their friends and allies. We see it in politics, and it is one of the reasons why our trust in politicians is so low.
When political operatives created a massive scam accusing an opposing candidate of colluding with a foreign power, most of their people went along with it. A lot more people believed it. The entire thing was a lie and broke a lot of laws, but I don’t know that anyone was ever held accountable for it. That is a very fuzzy line.
There is a cake maker in Colorado who was sued for not creating a wedding cake that would have violated his beliefs. His case went all the way to the Supreme Court, where he won. Knowing he’d fight it, a different group came after him and he won again. Now he has been sued in state court.
Is freedom of speech a hard line? Apparently not, especially if you won’t say what I want you to say.
That is just one example of regular people wanting to draw their own lines, and it’s happening in America. But, as I mentioned in an earlier blog, the European Union recently tried to draw a line specifically for Elon Musk.
In researching that just now, I found this sentence in an editorial on the Wall Street Journal: “Trust in government is declining in democracies around the world, and leaders don’t help themselves or their countries when they blur lines between criminal conduct and speech they find offensive.”
Exactly.
Is there a solution?
Congressional sessions open with a recital of the Pledge of Allegiance. Many schools use it as well.
I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
We could be one nation under God. That would help. We could be indivisible. And we could really do our best to have true liberty and true justice for all.
Of course my solution to evil in the world is to do good. Just imagine the difference that could make.
But I have to confess, there are days when I think the simplest thing would be to take the advice found in Beer For My Horses.
Check out the award winning story video and see what you think.
And do good!
Toby Keith, Fuzzy Lines, and Justice
So far on social media, you can’t get canceled for being a country music fan. At least I don’t think the Thought Police have gone that far in America.
And that is a good thing, because I am a country music fan. One of my favorites — I know because I listen to him a lot — is Toby Keith. Even if you don’t like or follow country music, you probably know that Toby died in February of this year after a battle with stomach cancer. He was 62.
I never met Toby, but one person who knew him well was Willie Nelson. Willie said Toby was a good man, a good friend, and a good songwriter. He noted that Toby wrote Beer For My Horses, and that they had “a pretty good run” with that one.
The song, co-written with Scotty Emerick, went to number 1 on the country charts, and all the way to 22 on the Hot 100. Part of the reason is that it’s fun. Another part of the reason is that the message is one a lot of people want to hear.
The chorus says:
Why justice seems hard to find
Beer For My Horses was released in 2003, but even then these lines were accurate:
That’s still a problem, of course. However there are two or three issues that keep us from getting justice for the victims of those “dirty deeds,” corruption and crime.
One of those is fuzzy lines.
The song says, “You gotta draw a hard line.” In case you aren’t familiar with that idiom, allow me to help.
To “draw a line” is very simply to set a boundary. But here is an important note: you don’t actually draw the line, whether that is in the sand or on the street. Someone, often someone with authority, says, “I’m drawing the line right here.” That means you’ve reached the boundary and the consequences of stepping over the boundary will be severe.
I’ve heard that phrase used by coaches, by parents, and once by a principal. (In that one, I may have just been observing.)
The best picture of it ever was in the movie Support Your Local Sheriff. James Garner played the sheriff, and Bruce Dern played the criminal he had put in jail. But the jail had just been built, and the bars and doors to the jail cells hadn’t been installed yet.
How do you keep the prisoner in? The sheriff used white paint and drew a line on the ground where the bars should go. Near the line he put a splotch or two of red paint.
When the criminal was in, the sheriff said “Don’t cross that line.” Then he explained to the prisoner that the red on the floor was blood from the last fellow who crossed the line. Beautiful!
There are almost no hard lines today, but there are a lot of fuzzy lines. That’s a problem.
Who draws the line?
With a hard line you know if it’s been crossed. With a fuzzy line it is often tough to tell. In fact those fuzzy lines seem to get up and move on their own.
Here’s what really happens. The people in charge of the line move it for their friends and allies. We see it in politics, and it is one of the reasons why our trust in politicians is so low.
When political operatives created a massive scam accusing an opposing candidate of colluding with a foreign power, most of their people went along with it. A lot more people believed it. The entire thing was a lie and broke a lot of laws, but I don’t know that anyone was ever held accountable for it. That is a very fuzzy line.
There is a cake maker in Colorado who was sued for not creating a wedding cake that would have violated his beliefs. His case went all the way to the Supreme Court, where he won. Knowing he’d fight it, a different group came after him and he won again. Now he has been sued in state court.
Is freedom of speech a hard line? Apparently not, especially if you won’t say what I want you to say.
That is just one example of regular people wanting to draw their own lines, and it’s happening in America. But, as I mentioned in an earlier blog, the European Union recently tried to draw a line specifically for Elon Musk.
In researching that just now, I found this sentence in an editorial on the Wall Street Journal: “Trust in government is declining in democracies around the world, and leaders don’t help themselves or their countries when they blur lines between criminal conduct and speech they find offensive.”
Exactly.
Is there a solution?
Congressional sessions open with a recital of the Pledge of Allegiance. Many schools use it as well.
We could be one nation under God. That would help. We could be indivisible. And we could really do our best to have true liberty and true justice for all.
Of course my solution to evil in the world is to do good. Just imagine the difference that could make.
But I have to confess, there are days when I think the simplest thing would be to take the advice found in Beer For My Horses.
Check out the award winning story video and see what you think.
And do good!
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