"Father why are all the children weeping?
They are merely crying son.
O, are they merely crying father?
Yes, true weeping is yet to come."
-Nick Cave, The Weeping Song
I wouldn't categorize myself as someone who lacked empathy in my youth, but I wasn't really moved by abstract disasters - I pretty much had to see something for it to affect me.
Then, I had kids. Now, I seem to be extremely sensitive to certain things. I teared up the other day when NPR was playing MKL's "I have a dream" speech. Certain "Law and Order" episodes drive me from the room. And, lately, I can't bear to watch the disaster footage from Haiti.
I first heard "The Weeping Song" while a freshman at Purdue. I was newly turned on to Nick Cave after hearing and seeing him in Wim Wender's "Wings of Desire". I remember thinking what a cool abstraction it was; the difference between crying and weeping.
I don't think I really know the difference yet, having had such a fortunate life, but my imagination can now take me there...
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