Osler's Razor

Bruce Hornsby - The Way It Is by Dixvad59

One of my favorite songs of all time is Bruce Hornsby's "The Way It Is." There is the unlikely and wonderful interplay between the drums, a synthesizer and the piano. Then, too, it has that casual, loping pace that reminds me of Hornsby's hometown of Williamsburg (which I dearly love). It is also perhaps the only pop song ever which is about the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which really could use some more play in popular culture.

Most of all, though, the song critiques a soul-killing social dialogue that still enrages me. Someone, a child perhaps, asks someone about a social injustice-- endemic racism, intolerance of religion, hatred of others, poverty amongst riches-- and the elder shrugs and says, "that's just the way it is. Some things will never change." Thus ends the conversation.

How many times was I that child, that teenager, that college student, that law student, that prosecutor, that teacher? More than I can count, and every time something in the soul God gave me, the heart of the gospels, the promise of Christ, the rolling thunder of God's own self-renewing world, told me this answer was wrong. It is wrong.

In September, as some of you know already, I am going to anger people, be ostracized, be humbled, and once again be told that an injustice is just "the way it is."

Join me.