When Kris Kristofferson believed and stood by Sinead
In a world of Jason Aldeans, be a Kris Kristofferson
From a FB post:
https://www.facebook.com/hamckinney/posts/pfbid02KoKubuwsjA4Lnm2upcA87pauxDhLt3yrVf5BgRcshWFmeT1uqS7Mh1sMFLTzRvvsl
The week after her SNL performance in 1992, Sinéad O’Connor was scheduled to perform at a tribute to Bob Dylan. Under the circumstances, most artists would have canceled. She was not most artists. She came, and was booed, loud and long and near universally by the crowd, as soon as she stepped on the stage. She stood at the mic, waiting. Later she would describe how awful it felt, but in the moment, she looked resolute. The organizers sent Kris Kristofferson to get her off stage. Kris, who is a saint in his own right, declined to do so and instead comforted her, whispered encouragement, and stayed by her side until she was able to perform. He is said to have told her “Don’t let the bastards get you down,” and she replied “I’m not down.” And she was not. She was brave and strong and talented and fierce and RIGHT about the Church’s cover ups of abuse. This world burns women like her at the stake. Life wasn’t fair to her. We did not deserve her or her gifts, but I am so grateful for what she shared anyway. May she rest in peace, and may we fight the real enemy in her honor.
Kris Kristofferson later wrote a song about that night called “Sister Sinéad.” I don’t love that he refers to her as a “little girl,” she was a woman, not a child, though it reminds me that even with good intentions we men have to be aware of our role in the patriarchy and minimizing women. I very much like the line “some candles flicker and some candles fade/and some burn as true as my sister Sinéad.”
I'm singing this song for my sister Sinead
Concerning the god awful mess that she made
When she told them her truth just as hard as she could
Her message profoundly was misunderstood
There's humans entrusted with guarding our gold
And humans in charge of the saving of souls
And humans responded all over the world
Condemning that bald headed brave little girl
And maybe she's crazy and maybe she ain't
But so was Picasso and so were the saints
And she's never been partial to shackles or chains
She's too old for breaking and too young to tame
It's askin' for trouble to stick out your neck
In terms of a target a big silhouette
But some candles flicker and some candles fade
And some burn as true as my sister Sinead
And maybe she's crazy and maybe she ain't
But so was Picasso and so were the saints
And she's never been partial to shackles or chains
She's too old for breaking and too young to tame
= new reply since forum marked as read
"And maybe she's crazy and maybe she ain't
But so was Picasso and so were the saints
And she's never been partial to shackles or chains
She's too old for breaking and too young to tame"
Sinéad was well aware of the abuses that people suffered
@ the hands of the Catholic Church in Ireland such as "The
Laundry Women of Ireland." Where the Catholic Church kept
"fallen women" as slaves and blamed them for being humans
and not being perfect Catholics and hey if the nuns beat them
or they were turned out as sex slaves or if they died oh well
they bodies could just be buried on the grounds of the church
run prisons called the Magdalene Laundries.
From Wiki:
The Magdalene Laundries in Ireland, also known as Magdalene asylums, were institutions usually run by Roman Catholic orders, which operated from the 18th to the late 20th centuries. They were run ostensibly to house "fallen women", an estimated 30,000 of whom were confined in these institutions in Ireland. In 1993, unmarked graves of 155 women were uncovered in the convent grounds of one of the laundries. This led to media revelations about the operations of the secretive institutions. A formal state apology was issued in 2013, and a £50 million compensation scheme for survivors was set up by the Irish Government. The religious orders which operated the laundries have rejected activist demands that they financially contribute to this programme
It's a true story that touches on this very subject. Judy Dench plays a middle-aged Irish woman who as a teenager gave birth out-of-wedlock, and the nuns gave or sold her baby to an American couple. It doesn't sound like a happy story, but after looking for most of her life she finds her long-lost son who has grown into a fine young American man. Steve Coogan plays the reporter who helps her search for her son.
The movie is about 10 years old, and it really does have an upbeat narrative. However the truth is that most of the unfortunate young women who gave up their babies to the nuns in Ireland weren't so lucky. I believe the practice stopped in the mid-1960s, so Sinead O'Connor wouldn't have been a victim of the horrid baby-stealing nuns. (It doesn't seem likely.) But perhaps Sinead knew someone who was a victim? One wonders.
at the time i thought, she really doesn't want him standing there next to her, does she? Her body language says it all.
