(Click Track Version)
I wrote "Blink of an Eye" shortly after the Northridge earthquake when instantly many people became "homeless". Crisis management teams arrived in hours, emergency help was arriving from everywhere, it took several weeks to get most everyone relocated, at least temporarily.
Many homeowners began to use the word homeless to describe their current living situation, and the immediate concern of everyone involved was to get these people back into their homes as soon as possible.
Living locally I was involved in some of the repair work in Northridge, and one morning as I was waiting to get on the freeway, a homeless person was holding up a sign, "Please Help".
It was one of those surreal moments in life when you automatically see things differently and for me the definition of the word homeless changed. I thought about how society defined what an actual crisis was, and questioned our priorities as human beings.
When I used to perform this song years ago it made people uncomfortable, I got the message then, and "It wasn't really bar crowd material".
Times have changed, the issue of homelessness is no longer taboo but topical, and there needs to be a better solution. I'm recording a new version of Blink of an Eye but wanted to share this version now.
If the government could have done something they already would have, and personally I'm ashamed as an American that the phrase "Homeless Veteran" even exist's.
The politicians can't admit to having a slow moving moral compass, so We the People need to address our homelessness issue head on. I'm confident that if we really want to, we could eliminate having to discuss this uncomfortable topic... All Together.
-Bill-