"Ain't No Reason"- Brett Dennen

There ain’t no reason things are this way
It's how they always been and they intend to stay
I can't explain why we live this way,
We do it everyday.

Preachers on the podium speaking of saints
Prophets on the sidewalk begging for change
Old ladies laughing from the fire escape, cursing my name
I got a basket full of lemons and they all taste the same
A window and a pigeon with a broken wing
You can spend you whole life working for something,
Just to have it taken away
People walk around pushing back their debts
Wearing pay checks like necklaces and bracelets
Talking 'bout nothing, not thinking 'bout death
Every little heartbeat, every little breath
People walk a tight rope on a razor’s edge
Carrying their hurt and hatred and weapons
It could be a bomb, or a bullet, or a pen
Or a thought, or a word, or a sentence

There ain't no reason things are this way
It's how they always been and they intend to stay
I don’t know why I say the things that I say,
But I say them anyway

But love will come set me free
Love will come set me free, I do believe
Love will come set me free, I know it will
Love will come set my free, yes.

Prison walls still standing tall
Some things never change at all
Keep on building prisons, gonna fill them all
Keep building bombs, gonna drop them all
Working young fingers bare to the bone
Breaking your back, make you sell your soul
Like a lung is filled with coal, suffocating slow
The wind blows wild and I may move
But politicians lie and I am not fooled
You don't need no reason or a three piece suit, to argue the truth
The air on my skin and the world under my toes
Slavery is stitched into the fabric of my clothes
Chaos and commotion wherever I go
Love, I try to follow

Love will come set me free
Love will come set me free, I do believe
Love will come set me free, I know it will
Love will come set my free, yes.

There ain't no reason things are this way
It's how they always been and they intend to stay
I can't explain why we live this way,
We do it everyday.

Sometimes silence is the best answer. . . .

In the past few months, since I posted my last query about the rapid pace of life, I have since learned the amazing art of slowing down. More importantly, I have learned the art of silence. It seems like such a strange pursuit in our culture of noise and constant movement, but being silent and still is essential. How else could I truly know myself, or really see the world around me? I think so many things slip by us in life because we simply haven't learned how to pay attention.

One of my dearest friends, Emily, and I are always discussing and seeking to understand what it means to live well. I am still so young and have so much ahead of me, but I am so grateful that I am already learning to be content in whatever circumstances, seek beauty in the smallest things in life, and see myself for who I am becoming. Life is so short and fragile, why not learn how to celebrate it now, while we can?