THIRD TIME DOWN

Third Time Down takes its inspiration from the Biblical story of Noah and the flood.

The song begins by declaring we are "drowning in an ocean of apocalyptic notions." We are surrounded by apocalyptic notions whether sacred or secular and there are indeed "sidewalk preachers" proclaiming the end is near all around us. But, like Nero playing the fiddle while Rome burned, we prefer to remain blissfully unaware or look the other way.

We have become so far removed from the idea that Politics is "the art and science of government" and so entrenched in opinions that those on the opposing side can only be seen as "filled with hate." The only logical end of this, of course, is that both sides of the divide view the other as the hater.

The metaphor of drowning continues in the second verse but the drowning comes in the form of addiction to our electronic devices, most especially our phones. The fabric of society is being shredded before our eyes while we deny it, ignore it and show little to no remorse for it, desperately searching instead for a new distraction from the reality.

The bridge tells us that there is "no united in the nations" meaning not only the nations of the world, but also no unity within individual nations. We are not bound by a shared desire for peace, security and opportunity but torn apart by them. As long as information, knowledge and wisdom are considered to be equal and interchangeable terms and truth is considered to be subjective we will continue to find ourselves in over our heads, so to speak, and drowning, in desperate need of being thrown a life preserver.

Yet even in this dark, watery potential tomb we can find hope: It's not too late to be saved!