: Redemption Song :

The music of Bob Marley was a big part of my life for the large part of my teenage and young adult years.  Posters of Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix covered the wall of my side of the dorm room during my first year of college.  Both musician's faces adorned the back window of my maroon Pontiac Grand Am, Tai, on decals. 

Yes, the spirit of Bob Marley's rhythm and lyrics was with me for many a day, and remains in my mind, words of songs popping up from time to time, when I most need them.  As Bob Marley himself sang, "One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain...  so hit me with music, hit me with music."

Redemption Song is the first song of freedom to be included in my Freedom Journal.  I printed the lyrics, cut them out, and collaged them onto a couple of pages.  They fit with the pictures of a large envelope decorated with buffalos and tepees, from an Indian school that used to mail us fund requests, years ago. 

Freedom and redemption are my current heart songs, for the depths of my soul, for all the broken pieces.  Paying tribute to Bob Marley for the work of his hands through his music, his songs, his words - all he offered to us in this world during his lifetime, impacting generations - brings me hope that I will sing songs of freedom, release myself from mental slavery, free my mind, and be redeemed, by the hand of the Almighty.