Hold onto Lena Superceeds the multiple layers of conflict in our world

Hold on to Lena my son....

A new song, written by a talented writer/singer tells a story.  A mother from Latin America, wants to see her young daughter and son, escape the poverty and corruption of life in the poorest and most corrupt part of Latin America.  She tells her son, (which becomes the chorus), "Hold on to Lena my son!"  They travel by foot, with no money, no food, for miles and miles. Weeks on the road, no shelter from the weather, no bed, only food that is given as they journey seeking to come to the USA. 

They jump trains, and ride old trucks, by every means to get across the border river to America.  They face gangs, thieves, drug pushers, child molesters.  All of those miles, those days and nights her brother holds Lena's hand.  Until near the border, "Men in uniforms take Lena away".  

The song is compelling. Marvelous writing.  As I heard it, I found tears rolling down my cheek.   The song makes you feel her brother's pain, his guilt at letting his mother down. His horror at what his sister "Lena" is going through. You can hear it all in the singer's voice and the images the words bring.

You must email Ben Benson (unfortunatecowboy@hotmail.com) or pleadingswriter@gmail.com and see when it will be released to the public.  No doubt, he is a genius with a heart, for music, a lyricist of great talent.

This song elevated my spirit from the various levels of "horror" of Corona Virus, from the level of "demonstrations and violence in the streets", from the level of "Trump's outrageous manipulations of conflict to gain reelection" and even from the new economic recession our nation has slid into.   It took me away from thinking "100,000 deaths here, another 100,000 coming" with a seeming yawn of indifference of our government, and those who see money as more valuable than human lives.  Thank goodness for a song, that so poignantly  envisions hope, love, desperation by mother and a brother. 

 

It is a love song, wonderfully done reminding us of the pure and simple "Lena's" of this world. 

How quickly we seem to have forgotten those hundreds of thousands stranded on the south side of the Rio Grande, who don't judge America or it's faults, not do they wish to burn and scream of victimology, but who say "Just give me a chance....a chance to live and work in America". 

They are there without even a lean-to shelter, without a job, without a car.  They do not wish to burn America down, they simply are begging for an opportunity to live and work in America. To feed their children. 

 

Hold on to Lena my son.