Sad day: The indefatigable songman and peace activist Pete Seeger died today, at the age of 94. He was a national treasure for all those Americans who stood up and spoke out, who refused to let the country pursue its hateful ways of war and oppression. His banjo was decorated with the message: « This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender. »
Many of us grew up with his songs in our heads, and his greatest gift, perhaps, was inspiring everyone to sing along, to follow his joyful songline.
« Realize that little things lead to bigger things, » he once said. « And this wonderful parable in the New Testament: the sower scatters seeds. Some seeds fall in the pathway and get stamped on, and they don’t grow. Some fall on the rocks, and they don’t grow. But some seeds fall on fallow ground, and they grow and multiply a thousand fold. Who knows where some good little thing that you’ve done may bring results years later that you never dreamed of? »