Patti Smith: "Creating is an act of hope"

I walked into the living room after my Quakerism class last night to find Hammy watching the inductions ceremony for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I usually dislike watching shows like that but it happens that Patti Smith was about to be inducted. I've never been a "fan" of Patti's work but I respect her as an artist, an individual and as a woman and mother. I think the reason I've never gotten into her music is because I'm impatient; I think her work is much deeper than I had the fortitude to explore.

I was really surprised that she would be inducted. She still epitomizes the essence of rock/punk. She's pure, untainted. She seems (to me) to have never sold out her soul for fame or money or power. She seems true to herself and her heart which seems (again, to me) diametrically opposed to the great majority of the kinds of people who are usually honored at awards shows like that. She's raw, not polished. She's honest, not polite. She's politically charged, not correct. She 'speaks truth to power' not as an act of self-promotion but because she is in a position to make her voice heard, speaking for the millions, like me, who are not in that position.

Her speech was sweet, sad, honest. She was polite. She talked about love; death and love. The thing that struck me the hardest was her beautiful hopefulness. She talked about youth being the future. She said creating is an act of hope.
I found her official website (http://www.pattismith.net/intro.html) this morning. I looked at the lyrics to songs on her new album and found this:

peaceable kingdom { QuickTime to listen to a snippet}

Yesterday I saw you standing there
With your hand against the pane
Looking out the window
At the rain

And I wanted to tell you
That your tears were not in vain
But I guess we both knew
We'd never be the same
Never be the same

Why must we hide all these feelings inside?
Lions and lambs shall abide

Maybe one day we'll be strong enough
To build it back again
Build the peaceable kingdom
Back again
Build it back again

Why must we hide all these feelings inside
Lions and lambs shall abide

Maybe one day we'll be strong enough
To build it back again
Build the peaceable kingdom
Back again
Maybe one day we'll be strong enough
To build it back again
Build the peaceable kingdom
Build it back again

Build the peaceable kingdom
Build it back again

Written by Patti Smith and Tony Shanahan© 2004 Druse Music Inc. (ASCAP) / Slea Head Music (ASCAP), administered by Bug