Do you remember how you used to argue (or fight) with your brother or sister when you were kids about who would do which chores? In my last blog entry, I proposed sharing “chores” here in the home of all Humanity—Our World. Sharing, as opposed to our common choice, war, is an option. Our hero Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. pointed out the folly of procrastinating and the common sense to come together to end war, poverty and hunger.


One of my musical heroes, Richie Havens, has been doing his chores with flair. Since the 1960’s, Richie has been singing about Peace, Love and Hope.


How I love this man, his music and his message. Witness “Say It Isn’t So” (from Nobody Left to Crown[1]):


Say it isn’t so
That the world must choose again
Who is foe and who is friend
I can’t believe it

Say it isn’t so
That the world must choose
Here we are, win or lose
I can’t believe it

I believe that we are just beginning
To realize that we are all the same
And I believe that we are bent on winning
This game

Say it isn’t so
That the people must bend
To this war without end
I can’t believe it

I can’t believe it
I can’t believe it
Do you believe it

In Bentari, the choice for war had been made thousands of miles from a small boy’s home. Here is how his father taught him. From chapter 5 “Challenge and Pact”:

“Father, why do the outsiders and our own people hunt you down? You are a leader and a counselor of our chief, and you have done wrong to no man!”

“Listen well, small one, for I have more to tell than time allows and understanding won’t be easy. The world is wrong sometimes. Even a child can see it and know that it is truly wrong. Yet knowing will not make the wrong go away. It takes brave people. It takes a mighty effort. Often it brings pain and sadness that a child can’t understand. Yet a child can help. So it must be with you now, Bentari. Stretch your mind around the world and find the understanding of a man. Can you do it, my son?”

Read Bentari to see how the boy replies.

On the pages of this website, I have been promising that Bentari is coming soon. I have not been procrastinating. Yet Life has imposed on me—an interesting give and take.

Now I say it comes.

Contact me at Tim@Bentari.com. Please write “About Bentari” in the subject line. Thank You.

Photo: Richie Havens, from the album cover of Nobody Left to Crown, Verve Forecast; photo © 2008 Polydor, a division of Universal Music France

[1] See: http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&keywords=Richie%20Havens%20Say%20It%20Isn%27t%20So&search-type=ss&index=music