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Email a FriendI had the fortune to see Kansas live in 1980. Kerry Livgren and David Hope had recently touted that they had embraced “Born Again” Christianity and were beginning to write songs with lyrics (i.e. Hold On) that relayed those thoughts. I meet Kerry and Dave after the show and as we spoke back stage I watched the line of numerous women who had waited for the shows end to be picked as one of the women to party with Steve Walsh and the rest of the band. Kerry,Dave and I stood for some photo shots (I hate getting my picture taken) and parted ways as the went up to the St. Louis Kiel Auditorium Party Room above the stage and I went to walk back through the auditorium which led to the parking lot where my vehicle was parked. As I walked back through the auditorium the janitors were cleaning up and the fog of cigarette and marijuana smoke still lingered in the air. I was thinking, as I walked, about my own faith. I had been raised Catholic and was being courted by a fundamentalist church to switch teams. The auditorium lights were bright and the place reminded me of a gymnasium with 10,000 chairs. I looked at one of the rows close to where I had been sitting (row 8) and there lied a young boy about 19 or so under the row of chairs. His body was lifeless and vomit covered his face. I asked one of the near by janitors who was busy sweeping the floor who he was and why he was lying there. “Don’t know him”, the janitor replied, ” If he don’t wake up or somebody don’t come for him then we just call the ambulance to haul him off”. The non-compassionate, straight forward response of the janitor struck me hard. The treatment of the human life that lay there on the floor as insignificant recalled the words “all we are is dust in the wind”. I walked away thinking that no one really cared about that kid on the floor. Since that time I had an opportunity to be involved with the Franciscans at the University in Quincy, Illinois. I studied the writings of the Franciscan Masters. It is important to remember where we came from and where we are going and that is the idea behind the Ash Wednesday Eucharistic Celebration. However, I encourage my children to not spend the bulk of their time pondering their insignificance. I do encourage them to spend their time utilizing the powerful gift of compassion and healing that God has authorized us to employ. This gift is honed during the lenten preparation and crescendos at Easter. With Christ involvement our insignificance becomes extremely significant and we become authorized and commanded to “Love as I have Loved you”. The indifferent treatment of the boy on the floor of auditorium after the Kansas concert was not an appropriate human response. Our call, through Christ, moves us from insignificance to be the first recognize the significance of other creations as we are involved with them in faithful, compassionate, integral, loving action. Dust is where came from not what we are called to be.
Remember, You Are Dust
Posted by DariaSockey in Family on Wednesday, February 22, 2012 2:07 AM
Above is a video of a famous song that was a big hit when I was, let’s see, maybe a freshman in college. It kind of works for Ash Wednesday, in a non-liturgical setting, that is. What’s kind of interesting about the video is it shows how the members of Kansas have aged over the years—how they are clearly on their way to becoming dust. As are all of us.
Of course, the song’s lyrics don’t go far enough. Yes, there’s a sense in which we all are dust—that’s the lesson of Ash Wednesday. But “We all are dust” is NOT the same as “All we are is dust.” Because we are also eternal spirits, and live in hope of someday receiving new bodies as well. That is why we can be both solemn and joyous as we contemplate our mortality on Ash Wednesday.
Maybe you can listen to “Dust in the Wind” while dusting some furniture today.
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...and for those of you with 12 year old boys in the house (or maybe just in your heart), there’s also “A Whiff of Kansas” by Christian comedian Tim Hawkins (the “Chick Fil-A” dude):
http://www.timhawkins.net/video.html
Watch them back to back and try not to cry from laughter!
Thanks for this memory. My classmate at Ursuline Academy in New Orleans, LA has a brother who used to be a bodyguard for Kansas. Some of the band members came to her house one night. They gave us girls some albums. Such memories, and now I will appreciate this song more.
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