When I awoke, I sat there hoping this is what we’ll do…
I must admit, I don’t think I really believed it until I actualy purchased my copy this weekend, but it true; Captain America is dead. I don’t wan’t to seem like too much of a Marvel nut so, just before I launch into a passionate narrative, let me try and rationalise my love.
Approach, if you will, these kinds of things not as ‘comics’ but as ‘graphic novels.’ I like to think that part of me steps up to read these stories as a litterary critic and not just as a wide-eyed, adventure seeking, twenty-two going on thirteen year old boy. Really, the story of Captain America is an amazing one. If your thoroughly interested, you can have a read at the abridged version but if not, try and understand this in terms of a kind of prot0-preface to this blog. While Captain America has his own kind of ’super-powers,’ most of his power lay in his symbolism. According to Ed Brubaker’s storyline, when Steve Rodgers, aka Captain America, went missing-presumed dead in the Second World War, the government just replaced the man behind the costume. Steve Rodgers temporarily ceased to be, but the mantle of the clean-cut, all-american hero simply passed to someone else. Why? Simply put, the storyline says that the US government did not want to demoralise their troops who were ‘oh-so-close’ to securing a victory in Germany. To those troops, Captain America represented a personification of freedom, democracy, ‘the american dream’ and any other number of cliches which the propaganda machine could churn out in 1939-45. To lose that symbol, that icon of partirotism would have crushed the US war effort. So the costume of Captain America or ‘Cap’ passed on… twice… at least, that is before Steve Rodgers, the original Captain America was re-discovered. It doesn’t seem like there is any possibility of that happening this time though. Steve Rodgers is dead. Yet, once again, the costume of Captain America, the ’star-spangled torch’ if you will, has passed to a new hero, ready to represent a new nation, new generations and new ideologies.
You know, once again, I kind of had a post pre-written in my head before I sat down to write tonight. As the night has worn on, however, I’ve sort of got the feeling that I should probably write about something else. I think thats why I thought I chip in that little rant about Cap before hand. I’ve been thinking all day and most of the night about a couple of different, yet equally ambiguous words; potential and ideology.
“I watched the smoke,
as it grew darker,
and blew up through the roof.
I watched the fed,
saw them panic,
as the fire grew.
I saw Virginia,
get rid of Langley,
and its secrets too.
I held your hand,
and sat there knowing,
that we’d make it through.I saw this man,
dispose of hunger,
and soap operas too.
I saw this field,
that grew perfection,
full of things you do.
I saw this box,
get rid of heartache,
and cure cancer too.
when I awoke,
I sat there hoping,
this is what we’ll do.If we can,
we will leave a letter and this song
for you,
and we’ll write,
once a day,
and float it through the sea,
to you.
we’ll regret,
all those things we thought of
but didn’t ever do.
when the sky,
seems to clear,
who will then be left but a few?
me and you.”Watch the World – Boxcar Racer
You know, I never really gave the band Boxcar Racer a proper chance. Even though this Tom DeLonge project preceeded Angels and Airwaves, I never heard any of their music until long after Angels and Airwaves (hereafter AvA) first album. This presented me with a serious dilemma. AvA’s first album was awesomely good and would definately feature highly in my hypothetical top 10 album list. Listening to Boxcar Racer after this just kind of left me a little bit dissillusioned and with a feeling of distain for my effort to hunt for AvA’s precursors. Boxcar Racer features Tom DeLonge in his ‘post Blink-182′ mentality and it’s various obvious. Some of the music is archetypal of the worst kind of American punk-rock and some of the songs on the album (‘My First Punk Song’ comes to mind) are reminiscent of lyrically immature attention-cries concerned with with nothing but teenage-angst. Last week, however, sitting in the library, I endeavoured to listen to Boxcar Racer’s self-titled album the whole way through. Yes, I had to bite my lip in places and simply switch off in others, but I must say; some of their songs simply captivated me. In fact, it gave my ‘hunt for precursors’ a definate successful conclusion. When comparing Ava and Boxcar, you can see the breeding. You can see Tom DeLonge’s philosopher side creeping through in places; grappling with notions which he feels are far beyond him; God, love, the state of the world and humainty, sin, mortality and even prayer. Take a read through the lyics to Watch the World, quoted hitherto. That songs deals with the potential which DeLonge see’s in this generation. I listened to it feeling like I was listening to like a prophet of the digital age. The song is almost like a vision, being revealed to a dreaming DeLonge where he sees the world as we know it being changed, being transformed into a kind of utopia. He makes reference to ‘the Fed’ or ‘the Federal Reserve System’ being consumed by a fire; a potent metaphor for an ending to centralised wealth. He talks about ‘Virginia getting rid of Langley and it’s secrets’ refering to the C.I.A.’s HQ in Langley, Virginia and the closing down of government intelligence and everything hidden from public view. He talks about this ‘man’ who enters the vision and disposes of ‘hunger’ and ‘soap-opera’; perhaps drawing on an idea that while some of the worlds poorest people are longing for food, those on the other end of the socio-economic scale are feeding their minds with random nonsense. DeLong says he sees a box which ‘cures heartache and cancer’; almost as if drawing on a complete mirror image of Pandora’s Box. Lastly, he thinks to himself “I hope this is what WE, this generation, humanity right now does…”
I thought it was a really good song and an even better vision for the future. I guess I got thinking, “what would it take? What would it realy take to realise this kind of dream for the future?” I suppose, as far out as it may seem, WE have the potential to do it; to change the world for the better. I mean, if that’s true, then why don’t we?
You know, this blog has been up and running for a good few months now and I don’t think I’ve ever really sat down and explained both the blogs title and it’s tagline. I reckon this is as good a place as any. I’m a real fan of the author Raymond E Feist. Ray writes really vivid fantasy novels set in a world he calls Midkemia. Midkemia starts to become plagued with unnatual “rifts” which transport people or creatures across whole worlds, whole dimensions, whole times. At one point in Rays writing, he describes a place which he calls “The City Forever”; A beautiful city full of gardens, huge buildings and squares. The “City Forever” exists outside of normal space and time and from it, two young adventurers in one of Ray’s stories stand and behold the creation of the Universe itself. I remember writing about it in my old blog and likening it onto John’s prophetic vision of Heaven from Revelation 21 and 22;
And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a beautiful bride prepared for her husband…It was filled with the glory of God and sparkled like a precious gem, crystal clear like jasper. Its walls were broad and high, with twelve gates guarded by twelve angels…And the angel showed me a pure river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, coursing down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month.
So when I call my blog The City Forever what do I mean? Well, it’s a place which (in my overly poetic mind) I like to think transcends time and space. It’s a place of beauty, enlightenment and revelation. I don’t mean that in an egotistical sense, but rather in the sense that it’s a place where, behind the veneer of text and webspace, you can be enlightened as to my mindset, my thoughts, my feelings or just my musings. I think, however, I like to ‘dream bigger dreams’ for it aswell. I read another great blog recently where the author noted that he didn’t see his blog becoming anything of noteriety, fame or cult status and I think the same of my blog. I will, however, say this; I think to think that The City Forever in both senses of the phrase, is a place of captivation. So why, according to my tagline, am I a “revolutionary dreaming once again.” I highly reccomend reading Pete Greig’s Red Moon Rising : The Story of 24/7 Prayer. Its an amazing book and seriously changed my opinions on many things about my faith, my life and my understanding of the world as we know it. Greig begins the book by quoting Acts 2 v 17+ and it’s really a reference which becomes so much more apparent when you get into the crux of what he’s writing about;
In the last days, God said, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. In those days I will pour out my Spirit upon all my servants, men and women alike, and they will prophesy.
You see, thats what Red Moon Rising is essentially about; it’s about a vision, a vision for a prayer movement which never ceases, never stops, is never dissuaded. Pete Greig himself expresses what he calls a poem-prayer, a vision within itself and one which, for me, stirred, inspired and motivated;
The Vision is Jesus
Obsessively
Dangerously
Undeniably
Jesus……What is the Vision?
The Vision is holiness that hurts the eyes
It makes children laugh, and adults angry
It gave up the game of minimum integrity long ago, to reach for the stars
It scorns the good and strains for the best
It is dangerously pure..…This is an army that would lay down it’s life for the cause
A million times a day its soldiers choose to lose,
That they might one day win
the great well done of faithfull sons and daughtersSuch heros are as radical on monday morning as on Sunday night
They don’t need fame from names
Instead they grin quietly upwards
And here the crowds chanting again and again
“Come on!”And this is the sound of the underground
The whisper of history in the making
Foundations shaking, Revolutionaries dreaming once again…Escerpts from ‘The Vision’ – Pete Greig
What do those closing statements mean? To be a revolutionary, a foundation-shaker or a history-maker. I guess that’s equally hard for both Christians and those who aren’t Christians to understand. Personally, therefore, I like to look at it in two ways. 1) I could have a revolutionary, foundation-shaking, history-making world view. I like to think that I have a bit of this kind of revolutionary within me; a guy with thoughts on how this world, on how humanity and society is playing out at the minute and with a genuine desire to challenge and change it. 2) I could have a revolutionary, foundation-shaking, history-making Christian/Church view. I know I have a bit of this within me; a guy who is genuinely perturbed by the state of western Christianisty at the minute and with a passion to understand it and perhaps, even in some small way, change it. Looking from this 2nd perspective, allow me to ask this? What is the Christian gospel? Much to the surprise of ‘evangelists’ everywhere, I’m going to say that the gospel is not one of hellfire, brimstone or condemnation. The Christian gospel is a gospel of peace, of hope and of salvation. I mean, whether you are a Christian or not, thats got to sound tempting; a view steeped in rhetoric of hope and peace. It seems that in this day and age, it’s the concept of peace, and not that of war which is revolutionary. So how about it? Why don’t we, why doesn’t this generation dream a revolutionary dream; a dream of a future of peace? Perhaps this is the kind of ideology which we need. I said, in realtion to Boxcar Racer’s ‘Watch the World’ that we have the potential to make DeLonge’s pseudo-prophetic vision come true, but in order to do so, we have to enstill that kind of ideology within ourselves. Ideology, however, is a bit ambiguous in itself. I mean, what does it mean to be ideological? Our boiler broke down last week. That may seem like a disjointed statement to make, but let me continue. I set out to fix it. One of my housemates said to me “don’t bother, there’s probably nothing you can do” before sitting down to return to the game of Mario Kart which we had been playing before hand. I retorted (and I must admit, in a bit of a contrived way); “Can you imagine if Chruchill, days before the Battle of Britain had said ‘you know what, there’s probably nothing we can do’ and sat back down to play Mario Kart. We’d probably all be speaking German by now!” I eventually fixed our boiler and on returning to our living room I was very proud to declare (in a particularly sarcastically anachronistic way);
A poster bearing those words hangs right above me in my room. In many ways, you can see how one could draw comparisons between the pilots in that poster and Brubaker’s Captain America. I mean did people really care about the men below the uniforms? Did people really know their stories or were those pilots simply assoicated with the kind of mythological patriotic mantle that Captain America bore? If those pilots were shot down two weeks after that poster was produced, did it really matter as long as their legends lived on? I guess that’s the power of ideology. Posters like that enstilled within the British people a sense of honour, a sense of national identity and a sense of patriotism. Maybe it’s that kind of ideology which won the war; who knows? As I thought about this blog tonight, I think that one of the conclusions I reached was that much of generation has either a real lack of ideology or a serious case of misplaced ideology. I guess that as an inhabitant of Northern ireland, I can testify to that better than most. For years, this wee corner of the world was plagued by people trying to forcefully make history, to shake foundations with nothing more than explosive devices and to revolt against a culture, a society and a way of life which they made no effort to understand.
I mean obviously, the kind of misplaced, patriotic loyalist and republican ideology which was so indicative of ‘the troubles’ in Northern Ireland is far removed from DeLonges utopian vision in Watch the World, but it does beg the question; what is acceptable ideology? Humans being humans, one person’s world-view will always stand in opposition to that of anothers and that would seem to suggest that there is no one all-encompassing ideology. Well, let me put it this way; what if our ideology was one of trying to become less human? What if we tried to put behind us our instinctive, human reactions to the things that go on around us and tried to better ourselves as a global society? What if we made an effort to understand oneanother? What if we strived to give ourselves a future of hope? What if our ideology was one which reflected a desire to live in the kind of world which DeLonge’s vision described? I mean, surely we have the potential to do it, but we need to start taking the first steps towards it.
You know, Captian America was ideological in his patriotic ferver and, in Brubaker’s story, the US governemt realised that he had the potential to enstill a feelin within their troops which could win the war. In the same way, if we have an ideological futuresight towards the kind of society we’d like to live in in the future, we have the potential to affect a serious change. I guess, however, there is a daunting twist to this in that it will require some people to be that little bit revolutionary; to step out and, in the words of another Boxcar Racer song called ‘Tiny Voices’;
“Use your voices…”
I don’t know if you’re one of these revoultionaries but I like to think that I am. The bizarre irony is that even though we may try our hardest to “be the change we want to see in the world”, we may well change nothing. At least, however, we will have tried and surely that effort is the most important thing. Maybe we’ll be completely forgotten and our vain attempts to change something will be far removed from the history books. Maybe, however, we’ll fulfill DeLonge’s bizarre vision; maybe his hope in this generation won’t be misplaced. Maybe this is what we’ll do…
