May 14 Tip: Finding Grace in the Wake of Destruction

From "Fresh Air": Finding Grace in the Wake of Destruction

(The May 14 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace)

http://www.npr.org/2014/05/06/310089151/sam-baker-finding-grace-in-the-wake-of-destruction

Sam Baker didn't start writing music until he'd come very close to the other side. In 1986, he was on a train in Peru, en route to Machu Picchu, when a bomb planted by the Peruvian terrorist group Shining Path exploded in the luggage rack above him. The people he was sitting with were killed. His body was torn apart. He had a brain injury and severe hearing loss, and he required more than 15 reconstructive surgeries.

Somehow during his long recovery, songs started coming to him. Several of them are related directly to the attack and his near-death experience, while others are like short stories, written in the voices of characters. Some of his most beautiful songs are like hymns. His latest album is titled Say Grace.

"I think that my job is to reveal as much as I know and hope that it's helpful to somebody," he tellsFresh Air's Terry Gross in an interview about the bombing and the faith he gained in humanity.