Anniversaries, Pt. I

This is a week of anniversaries. And I have fairly clear memories of both of them.

Twenty-five years ago this week, approximately 911 people willing swallowed poison at the direction of Jim Jones, in Jonestown, Guyana. I was nominally a attending college at the time, and chose to stay in town in order to attend a Bob Dylan concert (the "Street Legal" tour). I was living in a dorm, but the dorms were closed over the Thanksgiving break. A former college roommate let me stay at his place, while he and his family went out of town for the holiday.

Most of that week-end, I read Perry Mason mysteries. Well, tv was pretty boring, but I needed a break from the sort of heavy reading I was doing for classwork. But one night I turned on the news. And there it was — the whole chilling story. The story progressed; it seemed a few of Jones' bodyguards had left the compound prior to the mass suicides. We began to learn more about what life was like in Jonestown prior to the deaths. I dealt with the story the best way I knew how — I wrote a song. I imaginatively placed myself in the place of one of those bodyguards, asking myself how it would feel to be betrayed by one's leader in this
way.

For Jones' ministry had begun in the streets, helping the poorest of the poor. His was a socially-activist ministry which also preached non-violence. But, what started as a non-violent movement which fed street people in Ohio (then California) ended with guns and suicide in Guyana.

I've been lost for a long time, so I came out to the Guyana jungle; and the Lord handed me a gun.
The Lord handed me a gun.

Well, Jesus liked his wine, and Moses told us lies.
That's what the Lord said to me
And the Lord set me free.

Well, my parents wrote me a letter, saying "Jason, please come home."
We planted crops, and it would rain
The Lord, he did everything.

So my brother came to see me;
Said, "We miss you, can't you see?"
He stayed for nearly a week
I hope we had plenty of time to speak.

I didn't know the congressman
He wasn't even from my state
But someone put a knife in his side
And the Lord handed out the cyanide.

To the jungle I have run, for the Lord handed me a gun.
For the Lord handed me a gun.
© 1975