In the face of pain and despair, people often turn to music and literature for solace and inspiration.
During the past week, many Fast Company readers have shared with us their favorite verses, quotes, songs, and pieces of scripture. We invite you now to share those words of solace with a wider audience in Sound Off below.
Fast Company senior writer
One of the most famous eulogies for the dead was delivered by the Athenian general Pericles. In it, he conferred immortality on a new kind of hero, not an epic hero -- a general like himself -- but on the everyday Athenian soldier who lived in service of the city. It was Pericles's praise for the fallen that Lincoln was thinking about as he struggled to compose the Gettysburg Address.
"They gave their lives for the common good and thereby won for themselves the praise that never grows old and the most distinguished of all graves, not those in which they lie, but where their glory remains in eternal memory, always there at the right time to inspire speech and action. For the whole earth is the tomb of famous men; not only are they commemorated by columns and inscriptions in their own country, but in foreign lands there dwells also an unwritten memorial of them, graven not on stone but in the hearts of men. Make them your examples, and, esteeming courage to be freedom and freedom to be happiness, do not shrink from the perils of war."
-- Pericles
Fast Company contributing editor
"The Martyr"
by Herman Melville
(written upon the death of Abraham Lincoln)
There is sobbing of the strong,
And a pall upon the land;
But the People in their weeping
Bare the iron hand;
Beware the People weeping
When they bare the iron hand.
Fast Company production director
One of the most inspirational songs in a time like this is "Fire and Rain" by James Taylor. For boomers like myself, it resonates. We played it at a good friend's funeral when it was first a hit in December 1970. My friend was 16. I listened to it yesterday, and it was really appropriate.
Fast Company founding editor
Last Christmas, at a surprise concert in Asbury Park, Bruce Springsteen played a new song -- a hymn, really -- about economic despair called "My City of Ruins." Read in light of Tuesday's attack, the lyrics are pretty overwhelming.
"My City of Ruins"
by Bruce Springsteen
There's a blood red circle
on the cold dark ground
and the rain is falling down
The church doors blown open
I can hear the organ's song
But the congregation's gone
My city of ruins
My city of ruins
Now the sweet veils of mercy
drift through the evening trees
Young men on the corner
like scattered leaves
The bordered up windows
The hustlers and thieves
While my brother's down on his knees
My city of ruins
My city of ruins
Come on rise up!
Come on rise up!
Now there's tears on the pillow
darling where we slept
and you took my heart when you left
without your sweet kiss
my soul is lost, my friend
Now tell me how do I begin again?
My city's in ruins
My city's in ruins
Now with these hands
I pray Lord
with these hands
for the strength Lord
with these hands
for the faith Lord
with these hands
I pray Lord
with these hands
for the strength Lord
with these hands
for the faith Lord
with these hands
Come on rise up!
Come on rise up!
Rise up
Senior Web editor
As my tears turn to venom, I find that music expresses my anger with greater poise and poignancy than I could possibly muster. The two songs below, both covered on rare and solemn occasions by Pearl Jam, have been circulating through my RealPlayer this week. Following are a few lines that bring pause.
"Masters of War"
by Bob Dylan
You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins
"I am a Patriot"
by Little Steven
I ain't no communist
And I ain't no capitalist
And I ain't no socialist
And I ain't no imperialist
And I ain't no democrat
And I ain't no republican
I only know one party
And it is freedom
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