My flash of bright light came from –

‘Stairway to Heaven’
Song by Led Zeppelin (1971)
Songwriters: Robert Plant and James Patrick (Jimmy) Page

A superlative song about desire, greed, power and corruption under the guise of a woman climbing the stairway to her idea of heaven.

When I first heard this song I doubt the words meant much to me but now years later I realise that the lyrics offer a way to reverse your decision when things begin to crumble.

Quote ‘Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run, There’s still time to change the road you’re on…’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stairway_to_Heaven

For me today the words in this song mean not only slow down but look very hard at what is ahead. Perhaps the newest brain disease marketed under the moniker of AI, and what is happening with the aggressive war campaigns being fought overseas right now. A few years ago I would not have written a blog post like this but as I mature and pay closer attention to our environment, our safety and the repetition of evil manifesting itself yet again, possibly eyeing a global scale, I think ‘Look to the past’. Do I really want a repeat of what happened in the 20th century? Of course not.

Millions and millions of innocent people lost their lives in two wars. In the second one J. Robert Oppenheimer only lost his security clearance. Who is accountable today? Who is sitting in a laboratory or war-room right now refining the best way to destroy an entire country?

Does the victor really win? What they need to consider is that humankind is strong-willed but even the most powerful frontrunners can walk away. Surely the guys in control, those in both armed and war-torn countries, can see that for all concerned fighting to the death is absolutely pointless.

💗 © Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2025