09/24/07

Bono of U2 lost his father to cancer in the last couple of years. They had an uneasy relationship, reflected in the lyrics of this song.

I heard this song while riding the bike at the gym on the day Baron died, and all I could think about was Baron. The pain of Baron's death is kicked even higher because of how unnecessary it is. Completely preventable.

Worse is this...the song says you don't have to go it alone. You don't have to put up a fight. I'll take care of you, it implies, when it offers, "Let me take some of the punches for you tonight." But Baron didn't have the chance to receive the helping hand. Such were the circumstances, of striking personnel at the University hospital in Lusaka, of the economic disparities that drove the strike, of the poverty that placed him at risk in the first place. And in the end, it's not sometimes, but nearly all the time, that you can't make it on your own.

I'm frustrated that I was in Birmingham, when I could have been in Lusaka. I know I've got to be here, and finish the excruciating slow and amazingly fast-paced medical education that will enable me to do my best in future situations, but God knows! How many have to die?

A house doesn't make a home, don't leave me here alone.

After that, I'll let the song speak for itself for now.

Tough, you think you've got the stuff
You're telling me and anyone
You're hard enough

You don't have to put up a fight
You don't have to always be right
Let me take some of the punches
For you tonight

Listen to me now
I need to let you know
You don't have to go it alone

Sometimes you can't make it on your own

Sometimes you can't make it on your own

And it's you when I look in the mirror
And it's you when I don't pick up the phone
Sometimes you can't make it on your own

We fight all the time
You and I... that's alright
We're the same soul
I don't need... I don't need to hear you say
That if we weren't so alike
You'd like me a whole lot more

Listen to me now
I need to let you know
You don't have to go it alone

And it's you when I look in the mirror
And it's you when I don't pick up the phone
Sometimes you can't make it on your own

(Yeah yeah yeah)
I know that we don't talk
I'm sick of it all
Well can, you, hear, me, when, I, sing
You're the reason I sing
You're the reason why the opera is in me

Well hey now now, still gotta let ya know
A house just don't make a home
Don't leave me here alone