To Wolfgang, Joe Offer and others who remind us that Mudcat is a music site:

I feel compelled to remind you that music is written by people to express what they are thinking and feeling, and to seek a connection with other people whose thoughts and feelings are similar but who may not be able to express them in the same way. Songwriters and listeners alike are human beings who (among other things) experience pain, suffering and loss... and helplessness in the face of fate... and comfort from family, friends and strangers who do connect with them in some way.

Are you saying that the only way we can make that connection here on the Mudcat Forum is through music — quoting lines from songs, or posting our own lyrics — and not through any other personal expression of sympathy or support?

There are songs about lost dogs; there are songs about friends' children who are in danger of dying; there are songs about strangers giving comfort and saying kind words. There are songs about prayer and healing, too. Why would these songs be okay to bring up in a Mudcat Forum thread while the subjects of the songs would be unwelcome???

To say "Take your prayers elsewhere" while conducting a spirited discussion of a Spiritual devalues that song and reduces it to meaningless notes on a scale and jumbled letters in the alphabet. You would sever the connection between the song and the people who can sing that song NOW and feel what the songwriter felt.

Please let us be human beings here, in all our richness and diversity of belief, and recognize that this humanity is what music is about... and who it's for.

There are also songs about feeling isolated and unable to find connection with or comfort from other people. If Mudcat banishes all expressions of good thoughts and support for those who ask for it, those are the songs I will sing to myself when I log on.

SharonA