The memorable 1965 folk song, “Turn! Turn! Turn!”, sometimes subtitled “To Everything There Is a Season,” affirms the concept of a changing world in which there is a time and …
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The memorable 1965 folk song, “Turn! Turn! Turn!”, sometimes subtitled “To Everything There Is a Season,” affirms the concept of a changing world in which there is a time and place for everything.
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.”
According to Wikipedia, “The lyrics are taken almost verbatim from the book of Ecclesiastes, as found in the King James Version of the Bible, (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8) though the sequence of the words was rearranged for the song.”
Although popularized by The Byrds, the song was crafted by Pete Seeger as a call for peace, closing with the line, “a time for peace, I swear it’s not too late.”
The seasonal cycle of the natural world confirms the inevitability of time turning like a wheel and can be experienced in nature in the rising and setting of the sun, the progression of the seasons, the planting of seeds and the reaping of the harvest, birth and death and more.
As we turn away from the period of time we label as 2024 and fix our eyes, hearts and hopes on the horizon that is 2025, may we reconsider the possibility for a more peaceful world—one that honors and upholds the principle that “it’s not too late?”
I’d like to think so. Happy New Year to all!
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