The Lyrics

## 🎵 “Thank You, Sue”

*Country Spoken Word — (adapted for performance)*

**[Intro – soft guitar picking]**

*(low, steady voice)*

Thank you, Sue…

Thank you for lettin’ me speak my piece.

I’ll keep it short — though you know me —

probably won’t be that short.

**[Verse 1]**

You knew a kid once — seventeen,

good-hearted, wide-eyed, and green.

Didn’t know much ‘bout the way the world turns,

but his heart was in the right place.

And somehow…

that same heart’s still beatin’ inside this older man —

in how I treat my wife, my family, my friends,

the folks I work with,

the people I serve,

the strangers I help.

Yeah, I’ve grown, I’ve failed, I’ve learned,

and that ignorance?

It burned away in the fires of time.

**[Verse 2 – light steel guitar enters]**

But Sue… you don’t really know the man I am now.

You only see the me that lives on this screen.

You’ve seen my sharp tongue, my sarcasm, my fight,

and maybe thought that’s all there is.

But maybe you missed the pride in my children,

the quiet words to friends who made it through.

Maybe you missed the donations,

the small good deeds that don’t make noise.

Balance, Sue… there’s more balance than you’ve seen.

**[Chorus – with low harmony or guitar swell]**

I’ve learned this world’s a battlefield —

good and evil, side by side.

And when a man loves God and goodness,

sometimes anger rides along for the drive.

It’s righteous, it’s raw,

but it’s real.

**[Verse 3 – beat slows, voice deepens]**

This government we’ve got —

this so-called “party” of the people —

it’s a mess.

Corruption, incompetence,

power drunk and blind.

But don’t get me wrong —

the other side ain’t clean either.

They’re playin’ the same game,

different colors on the same deck of cards.

And while we’re arguin’,

they’re movin’ that Overton Window,

inch by inch,

while we sleep.

**[Verse 4 – steady rhythm returns]**

But I still believe in the good hearts of Americans.

We’ve got more in common than the TV says.

More in common than the headlines want.

They sell division —

but we were built on unity.

That seventeen-year-old boy I was…

he’s awake now.

Eyes wide open.

And once you see good and evil clear —

you can’t unsee it.

**[Bridge – brief pause, quieter tone]**

Maybe that’s why so many folks

stay lost in the dream —

the one Carlin cursed so perfectly.

‘Cause once you wake up,

you can’t go back to sleep.

**[Verse 5 – final build-up]**

So yeah, Sue — I’m angry.

I’m hateful at times.

But I’m also loving, compassionate, and kind.

Both live here —

in the same heart,

under the same skin.

I love peace. I love freedom.

I love this Constitution we’re blessed to have.

And I’ll fight for ‘em —

‘cause they matter.

**[Final Chorus – full band or acoustic swell]**

So call me what you will —

a dreamer, a fighter, or a fool —

but I’ll stand for what’s right,

and I’ll keep speakin’ truth.

‘Cause love and anger ain’t enemies —

they’re brothers in the same fight.

**[Outro – spoken softly, over fading guitar]**

So thank you, Sue.

For remindin’ me who I was,

and who I still am.

The boy grew up…

but the heart —

the heart stayed true.

*(pause)*

Thank you, Sue.

---

The response that planted the seed ...

Thank you. Thank you for offering me this opportunity to address your impressions and express myself as briefly as I can … which likely won’t be that brief. ;^)

You knew a good-hearted but completely ignorant 17-year-old who knew nothing of the way the world works. That goodheartedness still lives within and shows itself in the way I treat my wife, family, neighbors, community, volunteer work, employees and customers. My heart has grown with time and maturity. But with failure, success, and experience, I have lost much of that teenager's ignorance along the way.

But you do not (and truthfully you cannot) know the man I am today as all you know of me is what you see on this platform. You have seen my satirical, critical, and sarcastic posts meant to draw attention to issues I find important. But perhaps you’ve missed some of the posts of a proud father or the encouraging comments made to friends who have achieved or persevered. Perhaps you’ve missed the donations made in support of good works. You have not seen balance.

I have learned that with maturity one often awakens to some of the realities of life - and both the good and evil at work in it. As one comes to love God and Goodness, righteous anger and a healthy hatred of evil are part of the bargain.

This “administration” and the “party” it represents - perhaps like few others - exemplifies what is so completely wrong about American “politics” today (not that the other “party” doesn’t also share many of the same failings and ill-intentions): It is dominated by incompetence and corruption, motivated by a hatred of the American People and our Constitution, and it exudes a lust for bigger and more authoritarian government with a capacity to act lawlessly to move our society toward their communist goals.

I am neither a D nor an R (much to Jimbo’s disbelief) and I see both good and evil on both sides of our fake political aisle. Our parties (or our uniparty) and their actors and their political drama are meant to distract us from their goals and their actions. And they are effective at moving the Overton Window while we sleep.

I also recognize the inherent desire for goodness in the American heart and I know that we have much more in common than the politicians, the corporations, and the media want us to know as they push every possible point of divide between us.

The man that I have become is so much more awake and aware than the boy you knew. Once seen, good and evil cannot be unseen. Perhaps that is why so many are drawn to a wide variety of programming that allows them to remain in the dream state that Carlin so eloquently and profanely described.

While I could go on for page after page with story and example, let me stop here and agree with you ... at least in part. My love of goodness and peace and individual liberty and our Constitution … along with my righteous anger and justified hatred of evil and Communism and Globalism … are some of the motivating forces in my life.

So, yes. I am angry and hateful … but so too am I loving and compassionate and caring. It should not surprise you to learn that I could be both at the same time. I suspect that many of us, if we took the time and honestly looked into the mirror of our own soul, would feel much the same. Again, thank you.