Laura Derocher | Songs and CDs, Towers

Towers

This talk was inspired by the events of September 11, 2001.

On September 10, I attended a lecture at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. A successful entreprenuer spoke of building your own business and having a passion for what you do. Afterward, I offered to serve as a freelancer for his organizational development consulting firm. "I can provide training, organizational interventions, teambuilding and leadership development," I rambled on, proud to be such a Jacqueline-of-all-trades. I imagined this would impress him, but he saw through me. "Laura," he said politely but pointedly, "I'm sure you could do all those thing quite well, but what is it you really want to do?"

What did I want to do? What did I want to do? I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I knew I needed to make a living. I also knew I had a meeting the next day with a woman who ran a speaker's bureau specializing in speakers who sing (like me). I knew I hadn't done my homework for our meeting. I was having trouble committing to titles for my talks and so I was behind in drafting promotional materials.

Towers It was now nearly midnight. The last thing I did before going to sleep was journal, asking God for guidance. "Please show me what I'm supposed to be doing and how I should be doing it," I prayed on paper. Nine hours later, I was making breakfast with my friend, Dorothy. Her husband called from work, "Turn on the TV. The World Trade towers have been hit." I watched the towers crumble and I sobbed about what this meant for humanity. Immediately, the symbolism of the tower flooded my awareness. Carl Jung would tell us that symbols help unleash what's buried in our subconscious. That's why he used Tarot cards in his practice, because of the archetypes they portrayed. Well, if that's the case, the psyches of the whole industrialized world were being unlocked dramatically and simultaneously. This was BIG.

At 11:00, in an altered, emotionally vulnerable state, I met with the woman from the speaker's bureau. Instead of talking about marketing materials, though, we talked about what was happening. We talked about the power of music to heal. We were joined by another female singer/songwriter/speaker. The three of us shared our life stories. We each had suffered trauma and abuse as children. It became apparent to me that I'd received the answer to my prayer. Here was my guidance: get out in the world with my music and messages to to help raise consciousness, heal and transform.

Tracks 9-11 on Song of My Own form a trilogy that speaks to what 9/11 calls us to do. I did not plan the track numbers that way; someone pointed it out, to my amazement, after the CD was produced. I tried to write a song about the event, but no song came. I kept feeling I needed to speak about the incident. At first I didn't want to include the Towers talk on the CD because I knew it would be controversial. But I kept checking with my inner guidance, which told me to be brave and do it.

Some people are moved and inspired by Towers. They feel chills, sensing that a profound truth is being revealed. Other people think the talk is disrespectful and inappropriate. Knowing that Galileo, Jesus and others who proposed new ways of viewing things endured the disapproval of many, I'm ready to do the same. What I say here is what I believe passionately. It won't appeal to everyone. But if I ask others to express themselves authentically, despite societal pressures, then I must do the same. May your truth speak to you.

Choose another song.

Click on any track title from Joy Now to read lyrics:

Click on any track title from Song of My Own to read lyrics:

Laura Derocher
319 Glenn Street
Ashland, OR 97520
info@lauraderocher.org