raison d'être

I first heard On the Road to Find out in Iran driving from Bandar Bushre to
Shiraz. Cat Stevens (now Yusuf Islam) really fit the mood.
When things would get hard in Iran, I'd think to myself
"Why did I come here?!". And then I'd remember, to see what I could find out
and to clear my mind of the ideas around Iran that I read
in the papers and saw on the news. I believed there was
another story, and I wanted to know it.
And despite the difficulties, trials and tribulations,
I'd go to Iran again and again.
I loved the people and the experience changed me
more than words can say.
Besides, the best things in life aren't always the easiest.
So now I'm on my way to Tripoli, Libya.
I'd planned on going to graduate
school in Amsterdam in January for International Relations.
When an opportunity to go to Libya presented itself, I decided to take it.
I just read an amazing book by Arundhati Roy. In it she says;
"A whole industry of development experts, academics, and consultants
have built and industry on the back of global social movements
in which the are not direct participants." "From a safe distance, they
offer us their insightful critiques."
With that in mind, I go to Libya to meet the people and
see the country as it is, not as it's written in an academic journal
or presented in a lecture, but in real time, real space.

On the Road to Find Out

Well, I left my happy home
to see what I could find out.
I left my folk and friends
with the aim to clear my mind out.

Well I hit the rowdy road
and many kinds I met there,
many stories told me
of the way to get there, ooh.

So on and on I go,
the seconds tick the time out,
there's so much left to know,
and I'm on the road to findout, ooh.

Well in the end I'll know,
but on the way I wonder
through descending snow,
and through the frost and thunder,

I listen to the wind come howl,
telling me I have to hurry.
I listen to the robin's song
saying not to worry, ooh.

So on and on I go,
the seconds tick the time out,
there's so much left to know,
and I'm on the road to findout, ooh.

Then I found myself alone,
hoping someone would miss me.
Thinking about my home,
and the last woman to kiss me, kiss me.

But some times you have to moan
when nothing seems to suit yer,
but nevertheless you know
you've locked the door towards the future, ooh.

So on and on you go,
the seconds tick the time out.
There's so much left to know,
and I'm on the road to findout, ooh.

Then I found my head one day
when I wasn't even trying,
and here I have to say,
'cause there is no case in lying, lying.

Yes the answer lies within,
so why not take a look now,
kick out the devil's sin,
pick up, pick up a good book now, ooh.

Yes the answer lies within,
so why not take a look now
kick out the devil's sin,
and pick up, pick up a good book now, ooh.