Frank Turner, resonates, Be More Kind

Frank Turner is known for being an angry British punk singer/song writer. I first was turned on to his music when I heard “Sand in the Gears.” Donald Trump had just been elected. I was in my own funk at the time.

Can’t I just spend the next four years at a punk show?
I want to spend the next four years in the front row.
Because if the world outside is going to shit,
You will find me in the centre of the circle pit.
I want to spend the next four years at a punk show.

I wanted to bury my head in the sand, wake up four years later—maybe more. I wished for a rocket ship, to escape, go somewhere where there wasn’t TV, news, the sound of rancor and rambling which was modern politics.

We can’t just spend the next four years in a safe space.
I’m going to spend the next four years getting outraged.
Every single day, let’s find a brand new way
To let the motherfuckers know that we can’t be swept away.
I’m going to spend the next four years on the barricades.

But, that position took a lot of energy and ended in a pandemic. I finally removed myself by riding my bike 2,400 miles across the country, from Chicago to the Pacific Ocean. I socially distanced to the point that there was no cell phone connection, no data. Nothing but the sound of the wind in the trees, the grass blowing in the wind, the sound of quails startled by the roadside, rising up with a flurry of wings, taking flight. That was me.

I couldn’t fight any longer.

Fast forward to 2024. There’s another Frank Turner song that is resonating with me. One that came out on the album following Positive Songs for Negative People, on his eponymously titled album Frank Turner came the song, “Be More Kind.”

History's been leaning on me lately;
I can feel the future breathing down my neck
And all the things I thought were true
When I was young, and you were too
Turned out to be broken
And I don't know what comes next
In a world that has decided
That it's going to lose its mind
Be more kind, my friends
Try to be more kind

It’s not just me, I’m hearing others say it too: This election, Decision 2024, we’re tearing each other apart. All the negativity. Be more kind.

I’m ready for a new message, one of encouragement and confirmation, a plan to go ahead and not look back. Be more kind.

Like a beacon reaching out
To you and yours from me and mine
Be more kind, my friends
Try to be more kind

Thanks Frank Turner.