ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS      "Let us pause in life's pleasures and count its many tears       While we all sup sorrow with the poor       There's a song that will linger forever in our ears       Oh, hard times, come again no more... "I have often been utterly astonished, since I came to the north, to find persons who could speak of the singing, among slaves, as evidence of their contentment and happiness.  It is impossible to conceive of a greater mistake. Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy.  The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears."                 --Frederick Douglass "Ours is a useful trade, a worthy calling.  With all its lightness and frivolity, it has one serious purpose, one aim, one specialty and it is constant to do it; the deriding of shams, the exposure of pretentious falsities, the laughter of stupid superstition out of existence.  And that whoso is by instinct engaged in this sort of warfare is the natural enemy of royalties, nobilities, privileges and all kindred swindles and the natural friend of human rights and human dignities."                 --Samuel Clemens    ...'Tis the song, the sigh of the weary        Hard times, hard times come again no more        Many days you have lingered around my cabin door        Oh, hard times, come again no more        Oh, hard times, come again no more" ¹ Turner Foundation Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation DEDICATED TO:  American business entrepreneurs Ted Turner and Bill & Melinda Gates, three fine individuals who demonstrate by action the wise use of fortune to help the least among us and to help insure a better environment for our children’s future. *   Also dedicated to American country music singer Emmylou Harris , whose angelic voice is truly a gift from our Father in heaven to us all and whose consistent selection of meaningful material continues to be an uplifting and ongoing source of inspiration; may hard times come again no more. Credits: 1. "Hard Times Come Again No More" by Stephen Foster (1854)---though nothing in American literature compares to the depth of perception found in the American spirituals, perhaps the finest 'spiritual' type song to come from the heart of a light-skinned American; recorded in modern times by Emmylou Harris, Bob Dylan and several others. *FootNote:  Those who are wealthy, those who are well off and those who are poor must learn to work together towards the common good of us all, or there will soon be no planet or cause left to be concerned with.  In the light of true historical reality, the problem is not wicked leaders, war between nations nor a struggle between economic classes.  Rather, the problem is an individual struggle for "I, Me, Mine" at the expense of our neighbor, beginning in the human heart and leading to theft, murder, war and all that plagues We The People of Planet Earth. Likewise, the solution does not lie with weapons and armies of might nor in blind patriotism or nationalism or in political, social and/or economic theory, nor in violent overthrow.  Rather the solution, just like the problem, must begin with change in individual human motivation leading outward towards love, peace and social justice from the individual level.  This is the true solution laid down and practiced by the founder of Human and Civil Rights and let no one deceive you concerning this, for there is nothing new under the sun, nor is there a viable solution other than to love our neighbor as our own selves.  As Gandhi taught and sought to practice, he or she who would change the world for the better must first seek to change what is wrong at the fundamental level of one's own soul.  For if our own house is not in order, how can we think to improve our neighbor's home?             'Click Here' To Purchase This Book 'Click Here to eMail the Author Copyright © August 20th, 2003 by Richard Aberdeen. No part of this material may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher and signed by the author.  Inquiries: Freedom Tracks Records or requested via eMail.  Essays entitled Revolution and Revolution - Side B are open copyright and may be reproduced as often as one likes.