Merle Haggard 1937-2016

Today Merle Haggard passed away. He was a Country singer. More than his connection to music, was his connection to a difficult time in our country, namely the Great Depression. As other people have forgotten how horrible that time was he did not. It came across in his music. Leaving out the outlaw persona, and the rebellious past, although a part of his fiber, was not his entire makeup. His connection to the Dust Bowl and it's people is one of the most compelling aspects of Merle Haggard. He has four songs; "Hungry Eyes," "California Cotton Fields," "Tulare Dust," and "One Row at a Time," all tell of dreams of a better life in a better place for poor displaced persons. We as a society have forgotten the plight of these people. Terms like; "Okies," "vagrants," "squatters" and worse, have marginalized these people and Merle Haggard made them human again. Probably because he was one of them. Hell in Yuma Arizona there is a part of town named for them, because that is where they settled after "the promised land," also known as California wouldn't let them in. They needed a voice and other than Woody Guthrie, he was it. He was our last and best connection to a time that we should never forget, lest it happen to us today or in the future. The world is a better place for his having come and gone. If not for anything but to remind us what could become of us if we don't watch out. So be kind and not blind.