If It Were Up to Me

I first read the lyrics to this song when a friend posted it to Facebook.

Cheryl Wheeler, the artist who wrote it, kindly granted permission to reprint it here. You can learn more about the inspiration for the song, as well as about Cheryl, and her music, at CherylWheeler.com. She's also on Facebook and Twitter.

If It Were Up to Me

Words and Lyrics by: Cheryl Wheeler

Maybe it's the movies, maybe it's the books
Maybe it's the bullets, maybe it's the real crooks
Maybe it's the drugs, maybe it's the parents
Maybe it's the colors everybody's wearin
 

Maybe it's the President, maybe it's the last one
Maybe it's the one before that, what he done
Maybe it's the high schools, maybe it's the teachers
Maybe it's the tattooed children in the bleachers

Maybe it's the Bible, maybe it's the lack
Maybe it's the music, maybe it's the crack
Maybe it's the hairdos, maybe it's the TV
Maybe it's the cigarettes, maybe it's the family

Maybe it's the fast food, maybe it's the news
Maybe it's divorce, maybe it's abuse
Maybe it's the lawyers, maybe it's the prisons
Maybe it's the Senators, maybe it's the system

Maybe it's the fathers, maybe it's the sons
Maybe it's the sisters, maybe it's the moms
Maybe it's the radio, maybe it's road rage
Maybe El Nino, or UV rays

Maybe it's the army, maybe it's the liquor
Maybe it's the papers, maybe the militia
Maybe it's the athletes, maybe it's the ads
Maybe it's the sports fans, maybe it's a fad

Maybe it's the magazines, maybe it's the internet
Maybe it's the lottery, maybe it's the immigrants
Maybe it's taxes, big business
Maybe it's the KKK and the skinheads

Maybe it's the communists, maybe it's the Catholics
Maybe it's the hippies, maybe it's the addicts
Maybe it's the art, maybe it's the sex
Maybe it's the homeless, maybe it's the banks

Maybe it's the clearcut, maybe it's the ozone
Maybe it's the chemicals, maybe it's the car phones
Maybe it's the fertilizer, maybe it's the nose rings
Maybe it's the end, but I know one thing.

If it were up to me, I'd take away the guns.

 

R.I.P. Elizabeth Taylor: February 27, 1932 - March 23, 2011

Seventy-nine years, countless charitable endeavors, nine grandchildren, eight marriages, seven husbands, at least six best-selling perfume lines, five broken backs, four kids, three Academy Award nominations in addition to two Academy Awards for Best Actress... one incredible life.

May you rest in peace, Elizabeth Taylor.

If you've ever wondered if good really does triumph over evil

This is the second heartbreaking anniversary of the slaying of Rivkah and Gavriel Holtzberg in Mumbai, India.

There is so much more that could be said.

About the others who also died that day.

About Sandra, their brave and selfless nanny who risked her life to save Rivky and Gabi's toddler son Moshe - and then left her own life in India to be with Moshe in Israel where he went to live with his grandparents.

So much more that could be said, but none of it changing the sad truth that this immense tragedy happened. I love knowing the light of the Holtzberg's will live on forever in the many children named for the slain couple:

And I love knowing that this is true: good really does triumph over evil.

In memoriam, Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg.

May their memory be a blessing.

Today is one year after the Tragedy in Mumbai

Despite being completely heartbreaking, I find this very inspiring. These are photos of babies named for the Chabad couple who were killed in Mumbai last year.

May their memory be a blessing.