First, this article is not about any person serving in any country’s armed forces, nor about any military Veteran, nor about any person of any ethnic or gender, nor about any person’s religion, race, skin color, etc.
The primary intent of this article is to tell the story behind the man who wrote a particular, well-known song, and often sung at numerous, various types of events.
The story was told by Dr. Wayne Dyer on a PBS TV program my wife and I tuned in on Thursday, April 21, 2016.
Dr. Dyer was an American philosopher, famous author of over forty self-help books, and as a world-renowned motivational speaker. (In 1977, I bought a copy of his first book, “Your Erroneous Zone.”)
Wayne Dyer was born on May 10, 1940, in our hometown of Detroit, Michigan, and he died of leukemia on August 29, 2015 in Hawaii.
The story Dr. Dyer told was about the song, “Amazing Grace” as sung by a San Diego children’s choir on the TV program.
John Newton was an English clergyman and poet until he was forced to join the British Royal Navy. After leaving the service, he became an English ship captain who sailed a ship to Africa to pick up a boatload of natives and then to transport them to South Carolina, so they would be sold into slavery.
After several similar voyages, Captain Newton no longer wanted to be involved in the slave trade, so on his next shipload of African natives, he sailed back to Africa and released all his “passengers.”
Then, he sailed back to England and resigned from the ship-owners, and ended his slave-trading career in 1754.
Thereafter, he wrote a poem with the following words to “Amazing Grace”
Amazing grace how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I’m found
Was blind, but now I see
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed
My chains are gone, I’ve been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy reigns
Unending love, amazing grace
The Lord has promised good to me
His word my hope secures
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures
My chains are gone, I’ve been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy reigns
Unending love, amazing grace
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow
The sun forbear to shine
But God who called me here below
Will be forever mine, will be forever mine
You are forever mine.”
Isn’t it interesting how one man’s “indirect participation” in the slave trade in the 18th century cause him to write a poem that was written into a song that has been sung by millions of people worldwide over the past three centuries?
This story reminds me of a few lines in a poem that appears in a book I wrote, “Telly’s Torch.”
“I know no foreign people; I serve them all.
I know no difference in race or color,
I favor all, from east, west, north and south.”
