I will never be able to thank my brother enough for send me the video for We Stand As One. It is the most inspiring music video I've ever seen.

However, it can be somewhat confusing -- my brother himself has expressed some uncertainty about the graveyard scene. So in the interest of helping others appreciate fine art, here is a scene-by-scene discussion to guide the viewer. I hope it's helpful. (For best results, keep the video open in a separate window so you can refer back and forth.)

Scene 1: The Beach

First, notice please the genius of the artistic design, insofar as the symbolism of the piece remains skillfully hidden until exactly the right moment -- at first, this appears to be just another guy on a beach. When you watch it for the first time, you think: "I'll bet this is just another stupid love song. Or maybe it's about the environment."

Then come the light beams. While some speculate that these are alien beings entering the singer's body, they are, in fact, divine emanations -- which show that he is an angelic being (this angel theme will return later in the video).

As he begins to sing, we are struck with the perfectness of the setting -- all of the elements he describes are present as he sings! The love (we all love the beach), the air, the "rain" (in the form of ocean spray), and the "tear" (the sand serves for this symbol here).

While it's incongruous that it's suddenly nighttime -- and a full harvest moon, no less -- this cinematography merely illustrates the fact that our atavar exists beyond time. This obviously isn't your everyday music video -- these folks are willing to take some chances.

As he sings, "And now my new life will soon begin," look closely. You may be able to see the faint outlines of shadowy figures -- these are other people who, like him, are actually not living. (Well, not in the usual way -- we'll come back to this.) And as he continues with this verse, they sprout wings and begin to fly. (You have to look really close. It's very very subtle.)

Scene 2: The Flags

In case you're wondering, the first appearance of Old Glory is done with what's known as a "masking technique". The video artist sets the ocean wave upon the sand as a "mask," then fills it with a static image of the flag. This causes the viewer to shake his head and say "Hey! How is that flag flowing over his feet like that?" It's not magic, but it's close!

It's also at this point that the nearly-hidden USA on the singer's shirt takes on a powerful new meaning. Perhaps the viewer thought that was just an old shirt he was wearing -- but in fact, we now see that it was planned all along. And he's also got blue jeans on, which were invented in America.

The next cut is to the Statue of Liberty, with a cutaway shot showing two people shaking hands -- obviously, one of them is a white person and the other one is not. We don't just Stand As One with white people, you know! We also Stand As One with people who are nearly white.

Hopefully I don't need to explain the relevance of the following shot, where the singer appears between two stones. (Between a rock and a hard place, get it?) The silhouette shots are also powerfully self-evident. (Like "these truths".)

As the verse ends, a powerful crescendo mixes with a nuanced image to bring us to the point -- this is a 9/11 tribute. (The firefighters are a poignant reminder of that tragedy.) At this point, the singer is "shouting into the wind," so to speak -- urging the pained nation that we must continue despite our loss.

Scene 3: The Playground

As noted earlier, the singer is actual an angelic-type creature, not a regular human. Therefore, as he passes through the playground in the next shot, it's important to remember that the kids can't see him! When I first watched it, I thought, "Don't these kids think it's odd that there's this guy in a leather jacket touching them and singing?" But of course all they experience is his love -- and the energy he passes on, as represented by the flares of light.

The next shot shows the singer in a prayer-like meditative pose. Thus it was silly for a friend of mine recently to ask while watching: "Why's he blowing his nose on the flag?"

As for the following shot: The unearthing of Mt. Rushmore is an effect not unlike the "masking' described above.

Scene 4: The Graveyard

Now we come to one of the most textually difficult parts of the video. First off, note carefully the lyric which says: "A tree grows high.." This does describe an actual tree (as you can see, there are many trees in the graveyard), but it's also a metaphor. The next line says: "A leaf will fall." This, obvisouly, refers to the loss of life, which happens from time to time in every family tree. Except that in a family tree, the people are branches, not leaves. Well, whatever. You get the point.

As you know if you've seen the whole video, the director does a masterful job of waiting to unleash the power of this scene. At first, we think: "Oh, that poor woman -- she's obviously grieving her husband." (She's too young to be grieving her parents, and it wouldn't make sense to have this be about a dead child. And obviously there wouldn't be any lesbians in this video. And it's also obviously not her brother. Or sister. I suppose it could be an aunt.)

But just as we're feeling most sympathetic for the woman, the camera moves around and we see her baby! (This coincides with the lyric stating: "You must be strong / Your chin up high / Yes, I still live / I did not die.") The meaning, of course, is that her husband lives on in the form of her new child! Some have asked how this baby, who is obviously of South American ethnicity, could have been spawned by the Aryan mother and the black-and-white photo flashed up a second later -- again, the child is not to be taken literally (she did not, as some have suggested, have an affair with someone who was not her husband). Instead, the child is the child of America, who gives light to all of our hopes of unity and stuff.

Right after the graveyard scene, we finally get a full profile silhouette shot of the angel -- and in case you hadn't guessed, the meaning is laid out for all to see. (Actually, some have proposed that this is merely a shadow of an angel who is flying around behind the singer -- but I'll leave that for you to decide.)

The symbolism of the child as America's child is really driven home in the following scene, with the crowd of children spastically waving miniature American flags. (TPCQ: "Boo!") These young angels, then, represent the innocent hopes of our nation, reborn anew in the ashes of tragedy. This notion is complemented by assorted shots of more firemen and soldiers. As the music builds to an apex, the singer reminds us: "We are so strong!" even though this is obvious as well. (Would a weak nation need such insipid pablum to make itself feel better after suffering an act of brutal violence?)

Of course, this inspiring song and its breathatking video were just one part of the massive cultural response to September 11 which allowed us to heal as a nation and find the inner fortitude to -- in the words of social commentator David Cross -- "drop pudding cups on the most heavily mined country in the world" and invade the nation of Iraq, killing thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians.

TimeWaster™

Check out this video. It's inspiring and beautiful!

Today I'm listening to: We Stand As One!