My daughter today showed me a video of a stage musical titled "Hamilton: An American Musical." She had been watching the play recently and today told me that I should watch the song "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story" that is sung on stage. The song goes as follows.
Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story
Original Broadway Cast of Hamilton
Let me tell you what I wish I'd knownWhen I was young and dreamed of glory
You have no control
Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?
President Jefferson
I'll give him this, his financial system is a work of genius
I couldn't undo it if I tried
And I've tried
Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?
President Madison
He took our country from bankruptcy to prosperity
I hate to admit it
But he doesn't get enough credit for all the credit he gave us
Who lives, who dies, who tells your story
Every other founding fathers' story gets told
Every other founding father gets to grow old
And when you're gone, who remembers your name?
Who keeps your flame?
Who tells your story?
Who tells your story?
Who tells your story?
I put myself back in the narrative
(Eliza)
I stop wasting time on tears
I live another 50 years
It's not enough (Eliza)
I interview every soldier who fought by your side
(She tells our story)
I try to make sense of your thousands of pages of writings
You really do write like you're running out of time
I rely on Angelica
While she's alive, we tell your story
She is buried in Trinity Church near you
When I needed her most, she was right on time
And I'm still not through
I ask myself, what would you do if you had more time
The Lord, in his kindness
He gives me what you always wanted
He gives me more time
I raise funds in D.C. for the Washington Monument
(She tells my story)
I speak out against slavery
You could have done so much more if you only had time
And when my time is up, have I done enough?
Will they tell your story?
Oh, can I show you what I'm proudest of?
(The orphanage)
I established the first private orphanage in New York City
(The orphanage)
I help to raise hundreds of children
I get to see them growing up
(The orphanage)
In their eyes I see you, Alexander
I see you every time
And when my time is up
Have I done enough?
Will they tell your story?
Oh, I can't wait to see you again
It's only a matter of time
Will they tell your story? (Time)
Who lives, who dies, who tells your story? (Time)
Will they tell your story? (Time)
Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?
(Source: Musixmatch, Songwriters: Lin-manuel Miranda, Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story lyrics © 5000 Broadway Music)
I was brought to tears. Why? It spoke about having a Reason; it spoke about our Role here; it spoke about our Purpose; it spoke about Leaving something behind; it spoke about Lighting another candle, all that we held true to our hearts and had shared in this blog in the past. We could connect to the wonderful lyrics. Only some time back my daughter and I spoke about how our lives were a compilation of short stories. She then highlighted to me that Rudyard Kipling's "Jungle Book" too was a compilation of several short stories. Then she spoke about "Loki Agent of Asgard" too. I told her to share what she had read and watched. I open the floor to her.
WHO LIVES, WHO DIES, WHO TELLS YOUR STORY
Alexander Hamilton was one of the founding fathers of America. He is most known as the man on the US$10 note, as the 1st Secretary of Treasury and the creator of the US financial system.
Although he greatly contributed in fighting for America's freedom and building it up from the foundations, he was not one of the most remembered founding fathers until the 2015 stage musical Hamilton premiered.
The song "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story" talks about how we do not have control over who remembers us, how they remember us, and whether they choose to keep our story alive.
Hamilton had escaped death many times throughout his life, and believed he had survived that long for a reason. He worked non stop his entire life to better America in hopes of fulfilling whatever that purpose was.
He eventually was shot by Aaron Burr in a duel at around age 47- 49.
While every other founding fathers' story got told in museums and history classes, Hamilton's was mostly told by his wife Eliza with help from her sister Angelica.
After his death, Eliza who outlived him another 50 years tried her best to continue his work. She collected stories of the men who fought alongside Hamilton, compiled his many writings, collected funds for the Washington Monument, spoke up against slavery, and opened the first private orphanage in New York in her husband's memory, who was also an orphan.
Throughout the song, she keeps asking herself when her time runs out, has she done enough? Will we tell her story?
In the last lines of the song, we hear the company ask the question again: Who tells your story? And we hear the company reply: Time. Only time will tell.
While she spent her life keeping the stories and legacies of the people around her alive, the same was not done enough for her.
In the final moments of the musical, Eliza is shown entering heaven, where she does not meet her husband Hamilton, but Lin-Manuel Miranda, the writer and creator of the play and actor who plays Hamilton.
He takes her hand and guides her to the front of the stage, where she breaks the fourth wall, and upon seeing the audience, she gasps with joy.
The creators of the stage musical have told her story.
Beautiful, right? My daughter now moves on to the next story that of Loki.
Just before evil Loki dies, he makes a deal with the Queen of Death to be reborn with his powers intact so he may continue causing chaos.
However when he is reincarnated as Kid Loki without memories of his past life, almost everyone he meets is afraid of him or wants to fight him as they do not trust Loki and believe it is impossible for him to be good.
Seeing this, Kid Loki decides that he wants to change that and prove that he can be good.
Now a young adult, he starts serving the All-Mother in the Agent of Asgard series.
He gets sent on missions on her behalf, and with each mission he completes, a page from his past life is removed or rewritten, slowly wiping away all the evil deeds commited in his past life.
He tries to change his identity and get people to like him, choosing the form of a handsome man and trying to get on everyone's good side.
Eventually, he gets attacked and kidnapped by a future version of himself called King Loki, who travels to the past to tell him that his efforts will go to waste.
Because King Loki had successfully rewritten his entire past, but people still saw him as Loki, the God of Mischief and Chaos, the Liesmith, the Silver-tongued, and would never fully trust him.
So he decided that he will stick with the role he was given, and traveled back in time to cut his missions short and turn his younger self evil sooner.
But the present Loki refuses. He realizes that even when people try hard to put him in a box labeled evil and nail it shut, he has control over his story and his life.
He forgoes his good looks and people pleasing, rebranding himself as the God of Stories, because there cannot be Order without Chaos. Heroes cannot be remembered for their good if Loki was not around to cause the mischief and chaos.
His role now is to protect the stories of the Asgardian Gods and the people of Earth. Even when he is offered a seat among the Gods after saving them, he walks away saying he is done picking sides.
As the world comes to an end, he traps the stories of the Asgardians and the Avengers in the final battle.
He also traps his bestfriend Verity as she is telling the story of her life, essentially trapping her soul and essence.
He explains to her that their existance is entirely dependant on the stories told about them, and how when the universe is reborn, he will release these stories into the new universe.
He tells of how people on Earth used to sit around fires during a storm to tell stories of how the thunder and lightning was created by Thor smashing his hammer on the ground of the sky, and the rain was the blood of his enemies falling to earth.
These stories not only gave hope and wonder in times of fear, but possibly created the Gods themselves who would not exist if stories of them were not told.
Whether the Gods created people or people created Gods, he does not know. But his job now is to ensure their existance by making sure their stories keep getting told.
We can relate to this story too. As Loki says with each mission he completes, a page from his past life is removed or rewritten, we are here to change what we had done previously through each task or mission too. Some of us have vivid memories of it, others none while still others could remember with some assistance. Just as Loki explains that our existence is entirely dependant on the stories told about us, we exist only because there is a story behind us.
My brother is a great storyteller too being a journalist himself. He wrote about our father on Father's Day in an online paper. He had a story to tell about our father (https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2021/06/20/my-father-my-son/)
Many years back and again in January this year, he wrote about my mother too. (https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/leisure/2021/01/13/when-little-valli-met-pandit-nehru-and-set-off-the-taiping-incident/)
Recently he wrote about my brother too. (https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/leisure/2021/06/11/emergency-in-the-estate-ghani-to-the-rescue/)
And not forgetting our grandchildren too. (https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2021/06/12/little-prisoners-of-the-pandemic/)
This blog too is about stories. Just as Loki traps the stories of the Asgardians and the Avengers, in this blog we capture the lives of saints and Siddhas. We capture stories about common people like you and me. When we pick up Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography or Paramahansa Yogananda's autobiography we momentarily relive their life. As Carl Sagan wrote about books, "They allow people long dead to talk inside our heads", and as Loki trapped Verity's soul and essence, the lives, soul, and essence of the saints live in these pages too.
People simply love listening to stories. My daughters grew up listening to some wonderful stories. One of our favorites was the 1964 edition of "Little Chick Chick." My elder daughter had heard the story told so many times that she had memorized it. She would repeat it by heart while gazing at the ceiling. Then it was told to my second daughter. Today I tell it to my granddaughter.
We are indeed made up of stories. We too have heard of the stories, the myths and legends, fables and Puranas etc that are told of the Gods. As Loki suggests that "These stories possibly created the Gods themselves who would not exist if stories of them were not told," Agathiyar in his "Agathiyar Gnanam" surprises us saying someone clever made up some good old stories back then too.
மயங்குதற்கு ஞானம்பார் முன்னோர் கூடிமாட்டினார் கதை காவ்யம் புராணம் என்றும்
இயலான ரசந்தனில் ஈப்புகுந்தாற் போலும்
இசைத்திட்டார் சாத்திரங்கள் ஆறென்றே தான்
வயலான பயன்பெறவே வியாசர் தாமும்
மாட்டினார் சிவனார் உத்தரவினாலே
உத்தாரம் இப்படியே புராணம் காட்டி
உலகத்தில் பாரதம் போல் கதை உண்டாக்கி
கர்த்தாவைத் தானென்று தோண ஒட்டாக்
கபட நாடகம் மாகம் ஏதம் சேர்த்துச்
சத்தாக வழியாகச் சேர்ந்தோர்க்கு எல்லாம்
சதியுடனே வெகு தர்க்கம் பொருள் போல் பாடிப்
பத்தாகச் சைவர்க்கு ஒப்பனையும் செய்து
பாடினார் சாத்திரத்தைப் பாடினாரே
பாடினதோர் வகையேது சொல்லக் கேளு
பாரத புராணம் என்ற சோதியப்பா
நிலையான தசரதன்கை வெல்ல என்றும்
நீடியவோ ராசன் என்றும் முனிவர் என்றும்
நிறையருள் பெற்றவர் என்றும் தேவர் என்றும்
ஆடியதோர் அரக்கர் என்றும் மனிதர் என்றும்
பாடினார் நாள்தோறும் பகையாய்த் தானே
கழிந்திடுவார் பாவத்தால் என்று சொல்லும்
கட்டியதால் நல்வேதம் அறு சாத்திரங்கள்
அதர்மம் என்றும் தர்மம் என்றும் இரண்டு உண்டாக்கி
ஒழிந்திடுவார் என்று சொல்லிப் பிறப்பு உண்டு என்றும்
உத்தமனாய்ப் பிறப்பன் என்றும் உலகத்தோர்கள்
தெளிந்திடுவோர் குருக்கள் என்றும் சீடர் என்றும்
சீவனத்துக்கு அங்கல்லோ தெளிந்து தாணே
பூரணமே தெய்வம் என உரைத்தார் ஐயா
பூரணத்தை இன்னது என்று புகல வேண்டும்
காரணத்தைச் சொல்லுகிறேன் நினைவாய்க் கேளு
கலையான பதினாறும் பூரணமே ஆகும்
மாரணமா மூலகத்தில் மதி மயங்கி மதிகெட்டுப்
பூரணத்தை இகழ்ந்தார் ஐயா
வாரணத்தை மனம் வைத்துப் பூரணத்தைக் காத்தால்
வாசி என்ற சிவயோக வாழ்க்கை ஆச்சே
ஆச்சப்பா இந்தமுறை பதினெண் பேரும்
அயன்மாலும் அரனோடும் தேவர் எல்லாம்
முனிவோர்கள் இருடியர் இப்படியே சொன்னார்
பேச்சப்பா பேசாமல் நூலைப் பார்த்துப்
பேரான பூரணத்தை நினைவாக் காரு
வாச்சப்பா பூரணத்தைக் காக்கும் பேர்கள்
வாசி நடுமைத்துள் வாழ்வார் தானே
தானென்ற பெரியோர்கள் உலகத்து உள்ளே
தாயான பூரணத்தை அறிந்த பின்பு
தேனென்ற பானமதைப் பானம் செய்து
தெவிட்டாத மௌன சிவயோகம் செய்தார்
ஊனென்ற உடலை நம்பி இருந்த பேர்க்கே
ஒரு நான்கு வேதம் என்றும் நூல் ஆறென்றும்
நானென்றும் நீயென்றும் சாதி என்றும்
நாட்டினார் உலகத்தோர் பிழைக்கத் தானே
பிழைப்பதற்கு நால் பலவும் சொல்லா விட்டால்
பூரணத்தை அறியாமல் இறப்பார் என்றும்
உழைப்பதற்கு நூல் கட்டிப் போடா விட்டால்
உலகத்தில் புத்தி கெட்டே அலைவார் என்றும்
தழைப்பதற்குச் சாதி என்றும் விந்து என்றும்
தந்தை தாய் பிள்ளை என்றும் பாரி என்றும்
உழைப்பதற்குச் சொன்னது அல்லால் கதி வேறில்லை
உத்தமனே அறிந்தோர்கள் பாடினார்கள்