Community of Goodness Unknown

Placing the Santee Dakota Nation on reservations for the first time in 1851 was an act of cultural genocide. A mere decade thereafter, deprived of the freedom of the hunt, this ancient people stared starvation in its grim face. In August of 1862, there began a final defense of the Dakota Oyate – the long road to Wounded Knee. When the Wars of August were quelled, 303 Dakota were marked for the gallows. President Lincoln, in commuting the sentences of all but 38, paved the way for the largest mass execution in United States history. Featured songs: Water In The Rain (Honoring the Dakota 38) by Larry Long & Amos Owen (BMI); Lay Hatred Down by Larry Long (BM()

Every winter Mother Nature reminds us that she could kill us if she wanted to.  Snowstorms.  Ice.  While driving along those back road, we recognize that we could freeze to death. Time slows down when you’re cold. There are things you can learn through your body that you can’t learn from your mind. Coldness teaches compassion. Coldness reminds us that a warm bed, enough to eat, and a hot shower are precious gifts that many of our brothers and sisters are not able to attain. Thank God for those places and people who give those in need of a place called home shelter. 

The power of strangers gives us the moral imagination where we have the capacity to care for not only family members but people we do not even know. Mother Teresa was asked, “Mother, why do you do the work you do?”  She looked at the reporter and said, “If I hadn’t picked up that first man, probably never would have picked up the other forty-five thousand.”  We live in the company of strangers.  Do not fear the stranger, welcome the stranger, for whatever we do to the least is most significant. 



Featured songs:   Tramp on the Street | Words & music by Grady Cole & Hazel;  Somalia | Words & music by Larry Long | Copyright Larry Long 1999 (BMI);  Jesus Says | Words & music by Larry Long | Copyright Larry Long 1991; Renewed 2022 (BMI)

All of us have an Uncle Mel, Uncle Dale, Uncle Jimmy, Uncle Jamie, Aunt Florence, or a character in the family who makes us smile whenever we think of them. In times of need they’re always there to help out, asking nothing in return, except our love and affection.       



Giving us all the gift of joy that bonds the generations together.  



Featured Songs:  Uncle Mel | Words & Music by Larry Long | Copyright Larry Long 1976; Renewed 2022 (BMI);  Grandmother’s Song | Words & Music by Larry Long | Copyright Larry :ong 2022 (BMI)

Contemplation is the opposite of reaction.   It’s the ability to pay attention. Wherever your attention goes your energy flows. Silence is the language of intimacy. Where words are not spoken, yet everything is understood. I am yours and you are mine.  We are one, but we imagine that we are not.  Contemplation is taking a long loving look at what is real and to receive in the eyes of another human being the reflection of one's own self.  The contemplative is so much needed in our society today. 



Featured songs:   Innisfree | Words by William Butler Yeats |  Music by Larry Long | Copyright Larry Long 2022 (BMI);  He Gave His Life | Words & music by Larry Long | Copyright Larry Long 2022 (BMI); Heaven | Words by Mary Phillips | Music by Larry Long | Copyright Larry Long 2018 (BMI)

Our neighborhoods are the kernels of democracy. Strangers get to know and depend on each other.  We learn this as young children.  If we’re going to have enough kids to play baseball, we will need everybody.   Stokely Carmichael said, “Politics is what you can see from your living room window.”  We may not be able to change everything in Washington DC, but we all can have an impact on what happens right outside of our house. What our neighbors have done or are in need of doing shapes our lives. Neighborhoods are not perfect places; they are human places, where we live. It’s where beauty is born.   



Featured songs:   When Brother Ron Makes It |  Words & music by Larry Long | Copyright Larry Long 2018 BMI;  Welcome Home | Words & music by Larry Long | Copyright Larry Long 2020  BMI;  In My Neighborhood | Words & music by Larry Long | Copyright Larry Long 1991 BMI