何天地不仁?

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讀《法新社》報道,美國每一百成年人中有一人坐牢。

實在想不通、也想不透,不用拉登造訪,美國本土已經是很恐怖主義的地方!這是個什麼樣的天堂、什麼樣的地獄?

 

我馬上想起的,是美國搖滾樂手Bruce Springsteen1990年發表的驚天地、泣鬼神的專集Nebraska,我仿佛看到在美國每個陰暗角落遊蕩的幽靈。請聽聽他講的其中兩個故事﹕

之一﹕

Nebraska

Video 見﹕ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Qd4RGTQxf4

歌詞見﹕http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/bruce+springsteen/nebraska_20025149.html

I saw her standin on her front lawn just twirlin her baton
Me and her went for a ride sir and ten innocent people died

From the town of lincoln nebraska with a sawed-off .410 on my lap
Through to the badlands of Wyoming I killed everything in my path

I cant say that Im sorry for the things that we done
At least for a little while sir me and her we had us some fun

The jury brought in a guilty verdict and the judge he sentenced me to death
Midnight in a prison storeroom with leather straps across my chest

Sheriff when the man pulls that switch sir and snaps my poor neck back
You make sure my pretty baby is sittin right there on my lap

They declared me unfit to live said into that great void my soul'd
be hurled
They wanted to know why I did what I did
Well sir I guess there's just a meanness in this world

法官問犯人緣何殺人無數,他竟然回答道﹕「我想是天地不仁吧!」(I guess there's just a meanness in this world)。

之二﹕

Highway Patrolman

Video 見﹕ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vu662up2F1w

歌詞見﹕http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/bruce+springsteen/highway+patrolman_20025145.html

My name is joe roberts I work for the state
Im a sergeant out of perrineville barracks number 8
I always done an honest job as honest as I could
I got a brother named frankie and frankie aint no good

Now ever since we was young kids its been the same come down
I get a call over the radio frankies in trouble downtown
Well if it was any other man, Id put him straight away
But when its your brother sometimes you look the other way

Yeah me and frankie laughin and drinkin
Nothin feels better than blood on blood
Takin turns dancin with maria as the band
Played night of the johnstown flood

I catch him when hes strayin like any brother would
Man turns his back on his family well he just aint no good

Well frankie went in the army back in 1965
I got a farm deferment, settled down, took maria for my wife
But them wheat prices kept on droppin till it was like we were gettin
Robbed
Frankie came home in `68, and me, I took this job

Yeah were laughin and drinkin
Nothin feels better than blood on blood
Takin turns dancin with maria as the band
Played night of the johnstown flood

I catch him when hes strayin teach him how to walk that line
Man turns his back on his family he aint no friend of mine

Well the night was like any other, I got a call `bout quarter to nine
There was trouble in a roadhouse out on the michigan line
There was a kid lyin on the floor lookin bad bleedin hard from his head
There was a girl cryn at a table and it was frank, they said

Well I went out and I jumped in my car and I hit the lights
Well I musta done one hundred and ten through michigan county that night
It was out at the crossroads, down `round willow bank
Seen a buick with ohio plates. behind the wheel was frank

Well I chased him through them county roads
Till a sign said canadian border five miles from here
I pulled over the side of the highway and watched his tail-lights disappear

Me and frankie laughin and drinkin
Nothin feels better than blood on blood
Takin turns dancin with maria as the band
Played night of the johnstown flood

每個個人的悲劇,必然同時是家庭的悲劇。試想想﹕兩百三十萬人坐牢,必有千萬家庭天天沒有好睡!

 

我們看到的是「人間地獄」!

 

西方搖滾音樂(Rock and Roll)亦有翻譯為「樂與怒」的,有怒亦有樂,把年青人「打不死」的樂觀精神表露無遺。Nebraska專集的最後一首歌名叫Reason to Believe,正是這種精神最好的寫照。故事是在路旁有一頭死去的狗,旁邊有人用棍子戳著狗,那人希望狗會終于站起來!作者說這看來滑稽,但人就是那麼奇怪的,無論一天過得多糟糕,我們總能找到生存的信念!

 

這是我鍾愛「樂與怒」的原因,雖然我已不再年青。

 

Reason to Believe

Video 見﹕ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq9uj8YjoKY

歌詞見﹕

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/bruce+springsteen/reason+to+believe_20025121.html

Seen a man standin over a dead dog lyin by the highway in a ditch
Hes lookin down kinda puzzled pokin that dog with a stick
Got his car door flung open hes standin out on highway 31
Like if he stood there long enough that dogd get up and run
Struck me kinda funny seem kinda funny sir to me
At the end of every hard earned day people find some reason to believe

Now mary lou loved johnny with a love mean and true
She said baby Ill work for you every day and bring my money home to you
One day he up and left her and ever since that
She waits down at the end of that dirt road for young johnny to come back
Struck me kinda funny seemed kind of funny sir to me
How at the end of every hard earned day people find some reason to believe

Take a baby to the river kyle william they called him
Wash the baby in the water take away little kyles sin
In a whitewash shotgun shack an old man passes away
Take his body to the graveyard and over him they pray
Lord wont you tell us tell us what does it mean
Still at the end of every hard earned day people find some reason to believe

Congregation gathers down by the riverside
Preacher stands with his Bible groom stands waitin for his bride
Congregation gone and the sun sets behind a weepin willow tree
Groom stands alone and watches the river rush on so effortlessly
Lord and hes wonderin where can his baby be
Still at the end of every hard earned day people find some reason to believe

 

 

2 則評論在 何天地不仁?.

  1. 巧合地,昨天在日本有人在街上胡亂地斬死斬傷很多人,他也說因為「厭倦生活」。我想生活沒有希望、沒有所戀,生活只有壓力就會令人癲狂。令我想起了我喜歡的一首歌Under Pressure: By Queen and David Bowie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usvObJdgwlk Pressure pushing down on me Pressing down on you no man ask for Under pressure – that burns a building down Splits a family in two Puts people on streets that's o.k. It's the terror of knowing What the world is about Watching some good friends Screaming 'Let me out' Pray tomorrow – gets me higher Pressure on people – people on streets O.k. Chippin' around – kick my brains around the floor These are the days it never rains but it pours People on streets People on streets It's the terror of knowing What this world is about Watching some good friends Screaming 'Let me out' Pray tomorrow – gets me higher high high Pressure on people – people on streets Turned away from it all like a blind man Sat on a fence but it don't work Keep coming up with love but it's so slashed and torn Why – why – why ? Love love love love love Insanity laughs under pressure we're cracking Can't we give ourselves one more chance Why can't we give love that one more chance Why can't we give love give love give love give love give love give love give love give love give love 'Cause love's such an old fashioned word And love dares you to care for The people on the edge of the night And loves dares you to change our way of Caring about ourselves This is our last dance This is our last dance This is ourselves Under pressure Under pressure Pressure Love是答案?是解藥? 但問題是,不是美國政府(起碼現在的共和黨)在提倡家庭價值嗎?家庭價值不是「愛」的起點嗎?當你重視家庭的愛,但又帶他們的子弟去打杖,是否得矛盾?還是他們覺得提倡了家庭價值只是代表「家庭照顧」、「問題在家庭內解決」的經濟上考慮呢?
    [版主回覆06/09/2008 16:05:00]
    Love是藥,宗教的愛和救贖也是藥,家庭的愛不也是藥?年青的時候,我們不滿,因為我們認為病不能根治的話,藥有何用?年紀大了,我知道了此一生,也不一定能把病根本治好,便唯有靠藥,那怕要天天吃。能天天吃到藥還算是運氣呢!

  2. 我記起香港前食物環境及福利局拍了一些家庭和諧的短片及廣告,大意都是講家庭之間要有愛,要有容忍。但在香港的家暴或其他從家衍生的問題卻是無日無之。
    你講道「Love是藥,宗教的愛和救贖也是藥,家庭的愛不也是藥?」。對這些都是藥。但在香港的例子裡,這些藥也變得越來越少了。我覺得其實家庭的概念已經在香港社會中淡化了 (有趣的是,電視劇的故事裡講的還是大家庭,但已經不像在以前鄧碧雲年代的<季節>裡,媽打既是愛的代表人物(她調解家中的矛盾),亦是權力的代表(家庭成員要徵詢她的意見)。現在香港的劇集,講的主題是爭產,家庭成員明爭暗鬥,不是愛,又或是愛解決不了什麼問題。我相信這是編劇對香港社會的寫照吧)。 家庭的角色不能再發揮作用,同時香港人很多都沒有很重的宗教觀,所以我覺得在香港的情況只會有越來越壞,是悲觀的,因為再沒有地方可以有愛了,只有利益。
    有愛的解藥的人,在未來會變得罕有。又或者,在往後的生活及經歷裡,感受到愛的人不能再解釋社會上發生的事了,因為其他人的價值觀或行為背後的原因會是金錢觀、工具理性。

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