An American Bedtime Story

[Lyric]

Once upon a time in a kingdom not terribly far away, there lived a man named John Syrah. Syrah had a large and close-knit family, and they all lived together in an enormous, multi-story home that the Syrah family had built by hand, room by room, over many generations. The Syrahs were like any other family; they had their share of strife and hard times, but the one thing they all valued and cherished was their home.

One day, a pitiful and starved-looking bear came to the door, seeking shelter from a storm and food to fill his belly. The Syrahs were alarmed, because all wise men know that bears can be dangerous creatures. Although the Syrahs were reluctant to allow even a weak-looking bear to enter their home, they were also compassionate people, and decided that at least basic kindness should be offered to the bear. They gave him a small room of his own, and wholesome food, and left him to tend to himself until he felt strong enough to return to wherever he came from.

Unfortunately for the Syrahs, the bear decided that it LIKED this large, lovely house and refused to leave. It grew fatter and larger as the days passed, and soon it was so large and aggressive that it was dangerous to be near it at all. Alarmed, the Syrahs gathered together to decide how best to get rid of this bear. At first they tried to bribe the bear to leave, but the bear simply took the bribes and marched right back into the house. Next, they tried to reason with the bear and offered it peace agreements if only it would leave their home. The bear signed the agreements, but failed to honor them, and soon it brought home a mate and started filling the whole house with new bears. The Syrahs could barely move, the house was so packed! Even the bears recognized that the house was simply not large enough for an entire bear clan to live there peacefully with the Syrah family, and the Elder bear came to John Syrah to discuss this problem.

John was relieved at first--"Now the bears will finally leave us in peace!" But John soon realized his mistake, as the Elder bear informed him that since his growing bear-family needed more space, the Syrahs would simply have to give up more of their rooms. "But...this is OUR home! And where are we supposed to go?" John Syrah sputtered. The Elder bear informed him that the bear council had decided to eliminate any and all Syrahs who opposed the presence of the bears--for some of the Syrahs, upset at being forced out of their own rooms, had fought with the encroaching bears, and there had been some bear casualties. Even as the bear spoke, a terrible thunder of bear-growls and snarls filled the air. Many, many Syrahs were torn to pieces, and still more were forced out into the yard, where they died of cold, hunger, and disease. After a time, there were far fewer Syrahs remaining in the house.

All the Syrahs mourned, but tried to console themselves with the thought that perhaps now the bears would be satisfied and would leave the few remaining Syrahs to live in their rooms in peace. This was not to be, of course. No sooner did a room empty than new bears appeared to fill it--bears from the original bear-clan, and then later, strange bears from distant lands who were invited in by the original bears, and without consulting the Syrahs at all.

After a time, only a few small rooms remained to the Syrahs. Their home was no longer their own, and the house that their ancestors had lived in was now almost completely claimed by the bears. But new horrors awaited the Syrahs. As the bear-clan grew larger and more powerful, the bear-historians chose to portray the Syrahs as stupid, barbaric animals who were simply "wasting" the house they lived in, and that the bears deserved it far more because they were really "making use" of the home. The bear-politicians insisted that the house was "meant" for the bears, and had always been. The bears were painted as conquering heroes, and all of the he-cubs and she-cubs were taught this false history until it was so widespread and common that nobody could ever imagine that it had been any other way.

As the remnant of the Syrah family sat cramped and cold and hungry in the walled-off closets that remained to them of what once was their grand and beautiful home, the bears continued to breed and buy and sell and hoard and most of them forgot that the Syrahs were even there, other than as myths and legends of a useless, barbaric family that had once lived in the house before the coming of the Great Bear Nation. The Syrahs saw their children sicken and die, while the bear children grew fat and healthy in the sun.

Occasionally the kinder, wiser bears reminded the rest of the bear-clan about the Syrahs, and asked if more might be done for them. Some of the kindest bears even dared to say that perhaps the house should be returned to the Syrahs, as it was theirs to begin with and had been stolen from them by the Elder-bear ancestors. But these bears were very, very few, and were largely ignored by the complacent bears, who cared little for such an ancient injustice. They waved away all talk of such nonsense, saying "Why should my cubs lose their rooms? I didn't personally hurt any Syrahs, after all. I cannot help what the Elder-bears did, and I see no reason why I should lose my life's comforts for such a reason. Besides, there are hardly any Syrahs left! They don't need all of these rooms, and we do."

And so, to this very day, the Great Bear Nation continues to grow fatter and larger, while the children of the Syrahs freeze and starve in their tiny, dark, forgotten rooms. So long as the descendants of the original bear-clans and the bear-immigrant clans continue to deny any responsibility for the plight of the Syrahs, this will not change. A few (very few) compassionate bears still try to help the Syrahs, but even these bears do not go so far as to support the restoration of the Syrah home to the Syrah people. And the Syrahs? Most of them would be willing to share their home with the bears, if only the bears could understand that "sharing" means more than merely allowing the Syrahs to co-exist in the house. Sharing means sharing authority, and power, and the wealth created from the valuable resources found in the Syrah home. And most importantly of all, it means the end of the lazy bear idea that just because an injustice happened a long time ago, it need never be righted.

Sleep well, little bears.

[Frosty1]

1. Well Done!

:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

[Rhythm]

2. K+R