ACTION NEWS

Issue 30 – Fall 2021 

Billy Joel is a famous singer/songwriter and he was at his height of popularity at the end of the 1980’s. The story of We Didn’t Start the Fire goes like this:

While recording in the studio in 1989 Billy Joel met a woman who would turn 20 in a few days. They got to talking and she told him the 1980’s was absolutely the worst era in which to come of age. Billy Joel got thinking about that and having been born in 1949 he started recalling all of the changes he had experienced between 1949 and 1989. The music legend wrote We Didn’t Start the Fire, quickly like a stream of consciousness. If you are familiar with the song some of it is nonsensical and some of it really deep. I guess that is indicative of life in some ways. However, the kids growing up in this pandemic have experienced an unusual volume of difficulties. 

March 16, 2020 Rolling Stones magazine David Browne did an article about a Twitter post that suggested the world needed new lyrics for We Didn’t Start the Fire. Many wrote in posting potential new words to the song. I wrote my own version describing what kids have been experiencing in the last few months.

Kids in 2020-2021 be like:

Covid 19, Pandemic, Vaccine, two shots, three shots never enough.

Wuhai, laboratory, hazmat, rapid test, too much too digestPPE, 811, China is the smoking gun.

Trudeau, Rideau Cottage/Hall, Trump Administration, Biden calls

Storm the capital, Jasmeet Singh, Annamie Paul won’t run again.

We did start the fire- it’s been burning since the apple in mother eve’s eye has been turning 

We started the fire 

Sin’s trail lit and we’ve been fighting it ever since she bit. 

Statues down all around, street names changed, no parades 

Residential Schools, finding graves, flags half mast, shadow cast how long will this feeling last?

Houses burnt, people hurt, Nova Scotia rampage, Canada’s disconcert

George Floyd, BLM, when will things be right again?

CEBA loan, on the CERB, economic downturn. 

Herd Immunity, Vaccine Pass, Conspiracy Theory’s doubt is cast. 

We did start the fire it’s been burning since the apple in mother eve’s eye has been turning 

We started the fire 

Sin’s trail lit and we’ve been fighting ever since she bit. 

Red, Yellow, Orange, Green, new state of emergency

Online school, cancel friends, will the virtual world ever end? 

Angry fists in the air, CUPE strikers everywhere, 

Stop school, the pensions sold, workers think the offer’s cold 

Higgs? Russell? Circuit Break How much more can these kids take?

There certainly is no mistaking that kids today are experiencing a higher level of anxiety than any time in recent history. March 2020 hit us in a time when kids were already experiencing a high level of anxiety/fear/despair. What is the answer to this pandemic problem? We want to realign/reimagine our future and expectations in this time. CAFNB with the sponsorship of the Baptist Foundation is working on a campaign to encourage youth to rekindle their hope, their future, their joy and their deep abiding peace of God. Please stay tuned for more details of this campaign in 2022!