The Island

If you want to lead a happy life, don't watch the evening news. CNN should acquire the rights to Fractured Fairy Tales (Bullwinkle Show) and rebrand Wolf Blitzer's Situation Room for what it is - The Chicken Little Story.

Is North Korea about to detonate a nuclear bomb? Will Israel launch a premptive strike on Iran to destroy Tehran's nuclear ambitions? India, China or Mexico - where will your children work? It's been 5 years since 9-11 without an incident; is our luck running out?


Turn the channel to CBS and you get Henny Penney. Goosey Loosey is on FOX and PBS has Turkey Lurkey. The sky is always falling.

Frankly, much of what is on TV these days isn't news at all. It's just re-runs of the same old stories. I am tired of it and I can't listen anymore.

Irish song writer Paul Brady had the same feelings in 1985 during a particularly tenuous time in Northern Ireland. He penned a song called, "The Island". Read the lyrics. They were stunning then and still ring true today. Turn off the TV and take your heart and soul to the island.

They say the skies of Lebanon are burning,
Those mighty Cedars bleading in the heat,
They're showing pictures on the television,
Women and children dying in the street,
And we're still at it in our own place,
Still trying to reach the future through the past,
Still trying to carve tomorrow from a tombstone...

But hey! Don't listen to me!
This wasn't meant to be no sad song,
We've heard too much of that before,
Right now I only want to be here with you,
Till the morning dew comes falling.
I want to take you to the Island,
And trace your footprints in the sand,
And in the evening when the sun goes down,
We'll make love to the sound of the ocean.

They're raising banners over by the markets,
Whitewashing slogans on the shipyard walls,
Witchdoctors praying for the mighty showdown,
No way our holy flag is gonna fall,
Up here we sacrifice our children,
To feed the worn out dreams of yesterday,
And teach them dying will lead us into glory...

But hey! Don't listen to me!
This wasn't meant to be no sad song,
We've heard too much of that before,
Right now I only want to be here with you,
Till the morning dew comes falling.
I want to take you to the Island,
And trace your footprints in the sand
And in the evening when the sun goes down,
We'll make love to the sound of the ocean.

Now I know us plain folks don't see all the story,
And I know this peace and love is just copping out,
And I guess these young boys dying in the ditches,
Is just what being free is all about,
And how the twisted wreckage down on main street,
Will bring us all together in the end,
And we'll go marching down the road to freedom...

Freedom.