Heads cocked and eyebrows rose as students tuned in and the opening notes hummed out of their speakers.
Don't paralyze / Don't mesmerize / Don't hypnotize / Don't falsify
Make a change / Change your ways / Always do right / Right's never wrong / Wrong's never right / Play the game / Game you may / End up tonight / There's a chance you may not survive...
Sophia always used music to open and close her segments, so that was not new, but the music itself was. No one on campus had ever heard it before. Where had she found this tune, and where was she going with it? A couple minutes later, the notes faded and she began speaking.
"Citizens of Wakanda, today we begin a grand excavation. As living echoes of an early age and heirs to a fearsome legacy, we have always had eyes for the past, but have we ever really seen it in full? No, we are told. History has been stolen from us. And it's true: it has...and that to a greater extent than even we imagined. There is an entire dimension of forgotten information slumbering beneath our feet and I propose that we explore it together. Mere seconds ago, you were exposed to a very small flicker of that dimension.
Phil Keaggy wrote that song 110 years ago and it remains relevant today. Do better. Be vigilant. Stay sober. Right is never wrong. Wrong is never right. He also refers to a game which could cost us our lives. What if I told you that we are all standing on a chess board and that we must promote or die? The journey to the end of the board is a daunting one, full of boobytraps and bogeymen, but on the other side lies freedom: the power to choose our own destiny and even turn the tide. In order to get where we are going, we need to know where we have already been. The digging will begin in earnest next week, but for now I hint ahead with another historical artifact, written 104 years ago by a band ironically named 'White Heart'. Today we visit Babylon. Listen closely. Let it sink in. As it says in the Good Book,
'Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.'"
Sophia could scarcely believe how calm her own voice had been, her palms sweating as they were with nervous excitement. Quietly inhaling as if for a dive, she hit play.
Walking back through history / To the mighty city / I put my feet on the streets of Babylon / The gold and glitter / Towering wonder / It's all within the walls of Babylon
Strength and security / Comfort and safety / What could be better than living in Babylon? / Yet their strength was just an illusion / Now this city lies in broken ruins
Bye, bye, bye Babylon / This monument to pride is gone / Bye, bye, bye Babylon / God was not your strength and song / Goodbye Babylon
Rocket ride through time and space / It's 2088 / They're diggin' around in the dust of what we've done / Now people study me / I'm a part of history / Now did we leave them another Babylon?
Is there evidence of spiritual revival? / Or did we leave a land of broken idols?
Bye, bye, bye Babylon / Is our monument the Holy One? / Bye, bye, bye Babylon / If God is not our strength and song / It's goodbye Babylon
...
If God is not our strength and song / Goodbye, BABYLON!
Startled by that final, shouted line, listeners jumped slightly in their seats. The closing riffs carried them along for a few more seconds like a runaway mining cart and then there was a boom, which smoldered in their ears like a bomb blast. Where this would lead no one knew, but one thing was certain: it was going to be interesting.