Buying a Stairway to Heaven

DemonSpawn

Date:
21/10/2004

Well, hey there again to all my admiring audience. I got my first ardent fan today. Guy by the name of Ray. Hey Ray - this is for you.

There are a lot of things in this world that really piss me off. Humanity in general pisses me off no end. We kill each other for money and power; we walk past homeless people on the street without even bothering to wonder how they got there, or what it would be like to end up that way. I met a homeless woman outside a restaurant. She is living in a shack about a meter squared. She pays rent for that tiny piece of space, and when she brought her sick son to stay with her to nurse him, she had to pay double rent. She is sixty years old, and should be living out the last years of her life in dignity somewhere warm and safe. But she is not. And then I go home and thank my deities for what I have. But what has she got? What have I given her to show that there is some hope? Nothing. I am a hypocrite just like the rest of you fuckers. We all go "Oh those poor people living on the street - they must be so cold in winter" and then we change the channel, turn the page, turn around and walk away.

What would I do if I ended up like that? I have no clue. I have a family that can support me if I end up in the shit. Some people don't. And we sit in our warm sheltered homes, and take solace in the knowledge that we put a couple cents in the tin at the till.

So tell me, what is humanity about? I think we should petition every publishing house to change their use of "humankind" to "human-unkind", so that we can record the truth about every second that we inhabit this earth. Because I have lost all faith in the kindness of humans. There is a small flame of it in every person, but most of us only let it burn bright when it benefits us. When it's just not convenient to show our kindness, we smother it.

Why is it that we cannot feel our connection to the living beings around us? Why have we so lost touch with our connection to the earth from which we have all sprung? Why is it that small, things which are so insignificant in the greater scheme of life on this planet, can so distort and twist our nature?

In one of my tutorials today, we were talking about honour and greatness. How can any one person make such a claim? It seems unthinkable to me, to have such an ambition, when all around us, all through history, and inevitably far into our future, we have dead bodies and broken spirits around us. Our greatness and honour is worth nothing if it is tainted the blood of those whose suffering we have ignored.

I would like to say that for all my love of everything of this earth, it is people I love the most and hate the most, for our potential for kindness, and for our inclination towards not really giving a shit.

Is it so hard? There is a saying that "courtesy costs nothing". What about kindness? And has it really come down to cost? What would you do for money? Maybe I should ask, what would you not do for money? And what is the cost of a human life? What is the cost of kindness? How much money would you have to have, to pass a kindness on, in any form, to someone you have never met?

This column was inspired by the great godfathers of Rock, Led Zeppelin.

Demonspawn.

There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold
And she's buying a stairway to heaven
And when she gets there she knows if the stores are closed
With a word she can get what she came for
Woe oh oh oh oh oh
And she's buying a stairway to heaven

There's a sign on the wall but she wants to be sure
And you know sometimes words have two meanings
In the tree by the brook there's a songbird who sings
Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven

Woe oh oh oh oh oh
And she's buying a stairway to heaven

There's a feeling I get when I look to the west
And my spirit is crying for leaving
In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees
And the voices of those who stand looking

Woe oh oh oh oh oh
And she's buying a stairway to heaven

And it's whispered that soon, if we all call the tune
Then the piper will lead us to reason
And a new day will dawn for those who stand long
And the forest will echo with laughter

And it makes me wonder

If there's a bustle in your hedgerow
Don't be alarmed now
It's just a spring clean for the May Queen

Yes there are two paths you can go by
but in the long run
There's still time to change the road you're on

Your head is humming and it won't go because you don't know
The piper's calling you to join him
Dear lady can't you hear the wind blow and did you know
Your stairway lies on the whispering wind

And as we wind on down the road
Our shadows taller than our souls
There walks a lady we all know
Who shines white light and wants to show
How everything still turns to gold
And if you listen very hard
The tune will come to you at last
When all are one and one is all
To be a rock and not to roll
Woe oh oh oh oh oh
And she's buying a stairway to heaven

There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold
And she's buying a stairway to heaven
And when she gets there she knows if the stores are closed
With a word she can get what she came for

And she's buying a stairway to heaven, uh uh uh.

Stairway to Heaven, (Page / Plant); off Four Symbols, released 1971, Atlantic Records.

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