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Dec. 24, 2022 - Tulsi Gabbard Show
37:27
Merry Christmas! | Gift-wrapped emptiness, real happiness, and Songs with Mom and Dad
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And if you're listening at home, join us.
Sing along.
amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved aloha and merry christmas happy holidays to each and every one of you now it has been a crazy year by all measures It has gone by quickly and it seems like we're at a place in time where nothing is safe from being politicized or being attacked, not even Christmas.
Now, you hear about this sometimes being talked about in the mainstream media and, you know, people talk about Christmas being canceled and others in the mainstream media saying, well, no, no, no, that's just some far right wing conspiracy.
But let's just look at the facts.
As people celebrate Hanukkah, it is customary to greet them with Hanukkah Samyak.
At the end of Ramadan, we wish our Muslim brothers and sisters Eid Mubarak.
And as Hindus celebrate Diwali around the world, we wish people a happy Diwali.
But for some reason, when it comes to Christmas, the Cancer Culture Brigade tells us, hey, you're not allowed to say Christmas.
You're not allowed to say Merry Christmas.
Instead, they tell us, you have to say happy holidays because otherwise you might offend someone.
Trying to erase Jesus Christ from Christmas is an example of the depth of spiritual erosion in this country that we're seeing and the length and efforts that people are going through To try to erase God and especially Christianity from every corner and facet of our public lives.
Now, so this time of year that's meant to be, and even marketed as, a joyful time of year, the reality is that it is unfortunately filled with increasing rates of depression and sadness and loneliness and emptiness and tragically suicide.
Too much of our society is missing the true meaning of Christmas.
Instead, promoting superficial materialism, we are all bombarded with ads, whether they're popping up on Twitter or Instagram or Facebook.
We have commercials on television, billboards, all telling us, happiness can be purchased for the low, low price of $9.99 or $25, whatever it might be.
Trying to get us to believe truly that we are going to find happiness in these things rather than focusing on and celebrating the real reason of Christmas.
Celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and His message of love for God and love for one another.
So because of all of this focus on just about everything but Jesus Christ's message and Christmas, it's easy to forget what it's really all about.
Truly giving.
Being of service to others.
Making a positive impact with our lives.
This is what brings us greater happiness than being served by someone else.
This is what gives us true fulfillment.
Giving more than getting.
I'm so grateful to have realized very early on in my life that that was where happiness is found, that I was happiest when I was doing my best to be of service to God and to others.
Happiness is not found in a gift-wrapped box or a fat bank account or a fancy car.
That's the truth.
Now, this is the paradox.
As long as we are searching for happiness and doing everything that we can Selfishly for ourselves to be happy, we're not ever going to experience true happiness and true fulfillment.
But once we set aside our own selfish interests and our own pursuit, selfish pursuit of happiness, once we stop focusing on how we can find that happiness for ourselves and instead focus on how we can be of service to others, work for the well-being and the happiness of others, That's when we actually experience true happiness.
Now Reverend Martin Luther King said, everybody can be great because anybody can serve.
No matter who we are, what we do in our lives, what skills or talents we may have, no matter any of these superficial things, every single one of us can find our own way to be of service to others.
Today, in honor of the celebration of Christmas and the holidays, I'm excited to introduce you to two of my favorite people in the world.
this has given me a great excuse to be able to hang out with them, mom and dad.
Christmas, take two, take one. *sniff* Mark.
Mark.
It's like the career options here.
It actually matters.
It's not just for show.
No, I know.
I've been on video before.
We have to do that.
Oh, sorry.
Gosh.
So you're really an old hand.
Yeah, you know I have to...
Slating.
The editor needs to know which take it is, right?
That's right.
And sync the audio and, you know...
That's right.
I've been learning something in my old age.
Well, I am excited and proud to welcome you to our home studio.
Thank you.
I think the last time that you guys were here, we still had a living room.
Yes, things have changed quite radically here.
Now it's like stepping over.
I always joke, it's like it's only a half joke.
Do you know what parkour is?
No.
Parkour is this, it's a very physical athletic activity where people like go and navigate obstacles, you know, just like running on walls and flipping off of bridges onto the ground and getting around different things.
One of our friends is not very good at it, but he just runs around life pretending he is and just kick up against a wall and yell parkour.
So it's a bit of a joke, but that's what I feel like walking through here, that you have to do parkour to navigate the obstacles of what used to be our living room.
He's got to say it, though.
Parkour comes from the show The Office.
Parkour!
Parkour.
Parkour.
I'm sure you're avid watchers of The Office, right?
I've never heard of it.
Sure!
Let's go with that.
It is a funny show.
I'm trying to think of where we were last Christmas.
I think because of COVID, you know, we didn't really get to do much of anything together as a family.
We've gone Christmas caroling and other things before, but I feel like for the last few Christmases, it's been pretty quiet.
Yeah.
So I'm so stoked that you guys could come over today and we could share a few of our favorite songs with people.
Yeah.
People who are listening on the podcast, who are maybe watching at home.
And I think, well, one of the songs we're going to do...
Should we start with Amazing Grace?
Sure.
All right.
Sure.
Amazing Grace.
Yeah.
One of the most memorable times I remember singing this song was in Charleston, in South Carolina, at a Baptist church that was a funeral service for the families who had lost loved ones in the mass shooting at the church.
So the service was not actually at the church because there were so many people there, but It was so incredible because we heard from, for example, one of the mothers whose child was killed in that mass shooting.
And in her remarks she spoke about forgiveness.
Forgiveness to this guy who had taken her son's life along with others.
And, you know, It's an unimaginable thing to think of going through and understanding and knowing even though I haven't been there in that position and I can't imagine how difficult it must have been for her as a mom But knowing for certain that the only way that one can find that forgiveness is because of God and God's love.
And so after the speeches were done and the comments and the testimonials were done, it was so powerful to be in that kind of a sports stadium with thousands of people, everyone lifting their voices in amazing grace.
Yeah.
Wow.
So let's lift ours.
Let's lift ours.
And if you're listening at home, join us.
Sing along.
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 T'was grace that taught my heart to fear And grace my fears relieved How precious did that grace appear In the hour I first believed Amazing
grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now I'm found.
I was blind, but now I see.
We've been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound has saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now I'm found.
Was blind, but now I see.
Alright.
Alright.
Nice, nice.
So the next song we're going to do is one that you wrote.
It's an original song called...
Jesus Christ.
Enough said, right?
Yeah.
How long ago did you write this song?
I don't remember.
Do you have any I think it's 1980 or 1979. It's about that time.
You have, you know, obviously we grew up in a very musical home.
And Crystal was just asking me, she's like, oh, do you play any musical instruments?
I was like, yeah, I feel like I play a little bit of a lot of different things.
A little bit of ukulele, a little bit of guitar, a little bit of keyboard, a little bit of drums.
But that was all really inspired by you.
Because for as long as I can remember, you've had a guitar in your hands.
Did you ever go to school?
Did you ever go to music school?
No, no.
It's weird because my older brother, when we lived in Florida, my dad was stationed at Eglin Air Force Base.
He had this baritone uke.
And I'd never picked up a guitar, an instrument really.
But this is like, I don't know, 10 or 12 years old or something.
But he never played it.
It just sat there.
And so I just got it and I started kind of fooling around with it.
Yeah, yeah.
And then pretty soon I picked up a guitar and met a guy in high school that...
Were you the only one who did that?
None of your brothers, nobody else joined in?
Yeah, nobody did.
I've never heard this story.
Yeah, yeah.
All the family, all the brothers that have really good voices.
Yeah, yeah.
And then it was during the folk music era and then in high school I met a friend who was just an excellent guitarist.
He had just perfect pitch in his voice and he could just, you could hear something one time and he could just repeat and hear an album.
Peter, Paul and Mary was The big folk music popular group at that time.
So somehow we ran into each other and we started playing music together and we started a little group together.
That was in high school?
High school, yeah.
Ah, okay.
Didn't you say you used to get records and try to listen to them and then play along?
He would.
We'd get a Peter, Paul and Mary record.
He'd listen to it and he said, Here's Peter's part.
You sing that.
I'll sing Paul.
And of course, Kim, she sang Mary's part.
Oh, wow.
He could just listen to it.
Then he could say, here.
And he would just sing it.
Here's the chords.
And I'd say, okay, I'll follow you.
And then practice.
And then pretty soon we were singing at different places around town there in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.
Yeah.
In high school.
In high school, yeah.
That's cool.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Were a lot of kids in high school listening to that band at that time?
Or was that a little bit like older than your crowd?
No, no, no.
It was popular all over, but not as much as...
Because we used to have things called...
I had a hammer.
Yeah.
I had a hammer in the morning.
You guys probably don't know that song.
I actually have heard that song.
Yeah, but actually we had things called hootenannies.
And so a hootenanny was where different folk groups got together.
Instead of like a high school dance, the folk musicians would get together, everybody would come, and then you'd sing songs together.
It wasn't a dance or anything.
It would just sing, if I had a hammer, I'd hammer in the morning.
And then, yeah, many songs, yeah.
That sounds fun.
Yeah, it was.
It was really fun.
It's just like, you know, people getting around just, you know, like in your house and how we do it occasionally here with all your friends and just sharing.
And then one person leads, another person has a song.
I love that.
Did you do that?
Did you do that in Michigan too?
You had hootenannies?
Yeah.
And it just, that whole era of music was just so good.
It's my favorite still.
Peter, Paul, and Mary, and then the Kingston Trio, they were popular.
And then Bob Dylan of course came on and that was...
What's his name?
Simon and Garfunkel.
So which of those artists inspired your harmonica, guitar playing?
That would be Bob Dylan.
One of a kind.
That's incredible.
I still don't know how you do both of those things at the same time.
Play the guitar, play the harmonica and sing.
And then I ended up hitchhiking actually from Florida all the way to San Francisco in the summer of 1966. How long did that take?
It took a while.
I can't remember.
Like days, weeks, months?
No, maybe a couple weeks because the guy from Florida, the guy that picked me up in Shreveport, Louisiana, took me from Shreveport to Las Vegas because he was a gambler.
And then he took me from Las Vegas to San Francisco.
No kidding?
Same guy.
Same guy.
Wow.
Yeah, it was an amazing, amazing journey.
It was lots of fun.
Learned a lot.
Did you sing to him in the car?
Yeah.
Did you turn the radio off?
Of course.
Or in your keep.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, this is a super special song that you wrote and that we grew up...
Just knowing, you know, it's one of those songs that I've got the paper here because I need to look at the chords, but it's just, yeah.
The message is beautiful and powerful.
So.
The message that he gives.
So simple.
So clear.
To love the Father with all our hearts.
With everything inside.
Jesus.
Christ Dear Son of Abba, Jesus Christ, lover of the Lord.
Jesus Christ, we offer our obeisances.
Jesus Christ, please teach us how to love.
The message that He gives, so simple, so clear.
To love the Father with all our hearts, with everything inside.
And I'm such a fool, and I choose not to hear.
I'm still trying to love the world, I'm so empty inside.
Jesus Christ, dear Son of Alma Jesus Christ, the lover of the Lord Jesus Christ, the lover of the Lord Jesus Christ, we offer our obeisances Jesus Christ, please teach us how to love.
So love the Father and His Son, chant their holy names.
You'll experience happiness.
You'll never be the same.
You'll taste the nectar of their love.
You'll taste it night and day.
You'll be in the world, but not of the world.
There is no other Dear Son of Abba, Jesus Christ, the lover of the Lord.
Jesus Christ, we offer our obeisances.
Jesus Christ, please teach us how to love.
We offer you our love Beautiful.
Yeah, that's fun.
Here's some applause from the peanut gallery.
Nice.
This next song we're gonna do is Also very special, but it reminds me of different times I've gone through and looked at different names of God coming from different scriptures and what the meanings of those names are.
It's always such a beautiful reminder of the many qualities of God and the many different Names that are used to describe him and his qualities.
Right, and his relationships with people.
Exactly.
And this next song, I think, captures just a little bit of that.
And, you know, one of them, of course, Emmanuel, God is with us.
I mean, that's, no matter how difficult times we're going through, Emmanuel, he's with us all the time.
So it's one of my favorites.
I'm just thinking right now of people who aren't able to be with their loved ones during Christmas or for whatever reason, but also how alone we feel sometimes even when we're around a huge crowd of people.
And that's a perfect example of That important reminder that we're never alone.
God is with us.
He's just waiting.
It's like, okay, I'm here.
I'm waiting for you.
Just love me.
And this was written by a dear friend of ours.
Jeevan.
Jeevan, yeah.
Who passed away recently.
Yahshua Messiah Joshua, Emmanuel!
Joshua, Messiah!
Hosanna, Emmanuel!
Jesus Christ, Son of Man, Son of God, have mercy on me.
Jesus Christ, Mary's Son, grant me love of God.
Nashua, Messiah, Nashua, Emmanuel, Yahshua, Messiah, Hosanna, Immanuel.
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Hosanna, Immanuel.
Alleluia!
Alleluia!
Hosanna, Emmanuel!
Hosanna, Emmanuel!
Beautiful.
Actually, we should do this repertoire when we have our family gathering, too.
Yeah, definitely.
You have...
There was a point in your life when you wanted to become a priest.
And I gotta say, I'm grateful to be here.
Because if you had stuck with that path, Mom and I wouldn't be in the room.
So how did you...
So you're a kid...
One of seven?
Yes.
Six boys and a girl.
Grandfather was in the Air Force.
He was at Eglin Air Force Base at the time.
And dare I say you were a little bit more rambunctious child of the seven?
Rambunctious?
Maybe rebellious?
Maybe.
Still tempering.
Yes.
He often called himself the black sheep.
So when I told my parents I wanted to be a priest.
At what age?
That was 14. And what in the world, given a lot of the stories we're not going to get into here, of your exploits since you were three or four years old, what was it that at 14, What drew you to that decision?
It was actually two monks from the seminary in Missouri, a Mother of Good Counsel seminary, who were traveling throughout the South, and they were like missionaries because heavy-duty Baptists and not too many Catholics in the South at the time.
And so they were speaking at schools and churches wherever they were invited.
So these guys were very charismatic.
And they spoke to the student body.
At your school?
At our school.
Public school?
No, St. Mary's Elementary School.
Oh, that was a Catholic school.
And so it was eighth grade, and then they described this place, the seminary, and all the wonderful things that were going on there.
And I was thinking, you know, this sounds like a good opportunity.
Having kind of thought about my life up to that point of just being selfishly concerned about my own self and never thinking of God or others.
In a deep way.
I said, okay, I want to check this out.
So when I told my parents, they were, yes!
You didn't have to convince them of why they should let their 14-year-old son leave home?
No, no, no.
How much is the bus ticket?
We got you covered.
I'll pack your bag for you, son!
Were your brothers surprised?
Oh yeah.
When you're the black sheep of the family, all of a sudden he wants to be a priest.
What's really going on, Mike?
And so you hopped on the bus.
That's a bit of a bus ride from Florida to Missouri.
Got there, and it was just an amazing experience for me.
I think there was around 200 of us, high school and college seminarians.
And just the intensity of seven days a week being immersed in Gregorian chant, chanting God's names and His glories and the studying of Scripture and just the classes and just being in that.
It was just very life-changing for me.
And then after that one year, I came home for summer vacation and discovered surfing and girls.
And so I told my mom and dad after the summer, because they were planning on going back, and I said, Mom, Dad, I think my plans have changed.
I'm going to pursue other interests.
That experience obviously stuck with you.
Yes.
And when I first got there at the seminary, though, one of the things that just sticks with me to this day is You know, roughly 200 men singing Gregorian chant a cappella, three-part harmony.
And I just had never experienced anything like that before.
My parents were devout Catholics, and starting in third grade, I started going to Catholic school and everything, but I'd never heard anything like this.
And one of the favorite tunes that stuck in my mind and heart is this.
It's Kyrie eleison, which means Lord have mercy.
Christe eleison, Christ have mercy.
Kyrie eleison, Kyrie eleison.
Kyrie eleison, Christ have mercy.
Christe Laysong Yeah.
Wish I could have been there to hear that.
Chicken skin, as we say in Hawaii.
As you were describing it, 200 boys and young men lifting their voices in three-part harmonies.
The powerful thing in that is not so much that you have 200 people singing in harmony, but you have 200 people lifting their hearts and their voices in prayer.
And that's the difference in the power between Singing some random song in harmony versus no instruments, just people really praying together.
And the church was packed every Sunday.
And the priest would tell us they would drive from all over Missouri to come and attend.
It was very powerful.
That's beautiful.
I experienced something not, not at all similar, but in that same vein, when I was deployed to Iraq, we had two companies of soldiers, infantry soldiers who were from American Samoa.
And so as we were doing our train ups here in Hawaii and then in Texas, and then, um, even while we were deployed, but mostly, you know, when you're doing training, there's a lot in the military, they call it hurry up and wait.
It's like, it's like, okay, you gotta, and then you show up where you gotta be at this specific time.
They're like, okay, cool.
And you wait an hour, two hours, and everybody's just sitting around.
And the coolest thing was, and you guys know this, obviously, but...
All of these huge warriors of men from these infantry companies, from the Army Reserves in American Samoa, they would just sit around and one of them would stand up and start leading them in singing all these different prayers and hymns from the Bible.
And same thing, acapella, no instruments, perfect harmonies.
Everybody knew exactly when to come in and what part they were supposed to sing.
They start clapping their hands.
Before you knew it, everybody was involved.
Even if people didn't speak in Samoa, a lot of it was in Samoa and some of it was in English.
Oh my gosh, it was so beautiful and so motivating and just so inspiring and powerful.
that was one of my favorite things about living in Samoa is their singing at different events and at church and yeah the same thing it's just very moving actually and they would do it as they were marching along I saw a few videos and everything it's just like got the whole world in his head It makes everything so much easier, doesn't it, when you're singing?
Having a good time like that.
Just that joy.
Truly experiencing and feeling that joy that, again, comes from God's love and feeling Him and feeling His presence.
And in a situation like that, His protection.
Exactly.
And never forgetting...
Have you seen us before?
Oh, my God. my God.
Because since they were children, all the way to...
Exactly.
Wait for the next song.
I just wonder if it's genetic that everyone has a good voice.
I wish I could have been part of that.
Do you recognize this song?
No.
He's talking about God and his children, but now it's children.
That's what I thought.
Just have a good time.
Exactly.
I've watched this so many times.
I can see what you're seeing.
Everybody else is just watching.
Exactly.
But you know, somewhere deep inside, they're like, I want to be a part of that.
Exactly.
Look at these guys.
They're having so much fun.
The sergeants are standing there smiling and going, wow, this is special.
Woo-hoo!
- Wow. - Wow, that's special. that's special.
That's so good.
Brings you right back, doesn't it?
That's so nice.
Thank you.
Thank you.
So, to be continued?
Yes.
On Christmas Eve.
Yeah, sounds good.
Bringing the boys, the kids.
Yep.
Yep.
Should all be there.
Love you.
I have to ask you a question though.
I saw on your kitchen counter over there a box of toffee.
Almond toffee.
I don't know where it came from.
Does it measure up?
It should have gone straight in the trash.
That's a measure up.
That's my question.
I would never touch it, just so you know.
A few pieces are missing, so I need to ask someone.
We wanted to make sure you weren't...
I would never dishonor Mom's toffee with anyone else's.
I honestly don't know where it came from.
Some nice gift, though.
And I don't know who ate it, either.
Well, Merry Christmas.
Thank you.
Same to you.
Thank you for having us over.
Appreciate it.
Thank you so much.
We know your time is precious.
As is true for every one of us.
Yeah.
Make the most of the time we have.
Yeah.
Merry Christmas to you, dear.
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