HUMANITY – Glimmer and Fold

Humanity is a song I wrote about 15 years ago, when my older daughter was about two years old.

At that time, we lived in a city where almost every mother around me placed her child in daycare. Today, this is a completely normal practice for most parents. Children often enter daycare at the age of six months or one year. Some stay there from 7:00 in the morning until 4:00 in the afternoon or even longer.

As a young mother, I simply couldn’t understand how the women around me were able to give their very small children away and hardly see them during the day. It felt heartbreaking to me back then and it still does today that we separate our children from the love of their mother and from their familiar, calm surroundings.

Of course, I understand the reasons why mothers make this decision. Nevertheless, it deeply unsettles me that we as women are forced into such choices. Politics must ensure that every mother truly has the freedom to choose: to stay with her child or to go to work and place her child in care. No woman in this world should be pushed into this conflict because of financial pressure.

What has led society to a point where mothers feel expected or even happy to give their children away is another topic that should also be discussed.

As a mother and as an educator who has worked in kindergarten and school settings, I can say with conviction: we must take much greater care of our children. We must treat them with respect, love them deeply, and care for them as much as we possibly can. And we should not allow ourselves to be told that there is anything more important on this earth than lovingly caring for our children.

No educator can ever give as much love as a mother, a father, a grandmother, or a grandfather.

The anger in this song comes from a place of deep love at that time, I felt like a lion mother protecting her child.

Lyrics:

You said your fire burns within two
And all the love we shared was so true
I saw you falling from high Babylon
So should I give a hand and let you know?
But all the lies they spit are so true

I was living in a city where everybody sleeps
No one takes care of their child
I was living in a city where everybody sleeps
Get your fucking ass to work

This will kill you
This will kill them
This will kill human being

You’re so creative, so be creative
You’re so free, so be free

I was living in a city where everybody sleeps
No one takes care of their child
I was living in a city where everybody sleeps
Get your fucking ass to work

This will kill you
This will kill them
This will kill human being

Credits:

Music and lyrics Written by: Maria Pattusch
Maria Pattusch: voc, git, B
Nick Pattusch: dr, perc

Produced, Recorded, Mixed and Mastered at Oakpart Riverside Studios by Nick Pattusch
Design and Artwork by Maria Pattusch