{"id":70247,"date":"2017-09-11T16:47:04","date_gmt":"2017-09-11T23:47:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=70247"},"modified":"2017-10-28T06:24:25","modified_gmt":"2017-10-28T13:24:25","slug":"brave-angels-a-song-for-jonestown","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=70247","title":{"rendered":"Brave Angels: A Song for Jonestown"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am neither a Jonestown survivor nor a former Peoples Temple member nor a relative of one. I was only 12 in 1978, so until I stumbled on a documentary a while ago, my understanding of Jonestown was limited to the news headlines I remembered from childhood. The documentary made me want to find out more…. There had<\/em> to be more.<\/p>\n

I spent several months reading every survivor\/member account I could find either on this website or in book form. The stories touched me in ways I can\u2019t explain, except to say that they are quite different than the ones originally reported by the press. The names have faces and personalities now, and my heart breaks for the pain endured by friends and family members of these dear people who have been misrepresented so tragically in the media’s haste to report a story. Through all of the difficulty and sadness is a common thread of strength, compassion, love and acceptance. The real<\/em> story is the people.<\/p>\n

Sometime later, I found another documentary on YouTube, an ABC production filmed around the 25-year mark, where they took Jim Jr. and Stephan Jones\u00a0with Mike Touchette\u00a0back to Jonestown for the first time. At this point, I had read stories and articles about them and by them, so these were names I knew fairly well.<\/p>\n

The film showed Stephan eagerly looking for a large tree that indicated the approach to Jonestown. But as the truck crested the hill, they could see nothing but bush. He had expected to see\u2026 something\u2026 anything\u2026 which would show that he and the people he loved had once lived there.\u00a0I watched him sob as he lay on the hood of that truck. Tears poured down my face as I imagined everything he must have felt at that moment.<\/p>\n

Many of the people I have read about now feel like friends, even though we have never met. I see the people of Jonestown as courageous. The community they were attempting to create was a beautiful dream. Leslie Wilson described her arrival in Jonestown by saying “This was Jonestown. I was here at last, here with the people that love me without condition.” And Stanley Clayton said he has never felt the love and support he felt in Peoples Temple anywhere else since. That is something to take note of.<\/p>\n

Out of all of this came this poem I submit as a gift, to the survivors, to the other family members, to those who are gone and to anyone who cares for all of the people mentioned above. This is my way to let everyone know how their stories \u2013 their lives \u2013 have affected and changed me for good.<\/p>\n

My hope is that this poem will convey what my heart has difficulty expressing.<\/p>\n

Brave Angels: A Song for Jonestown<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once there was a story told
\nIn a voice nobody heard.
\nIt was spoken so very quietly
\nIt echoed around the world.<\/p>\n

Without being shared a single time
\nIt was repeated again and again.
\nAnd the moral of the story was lost
\nFor it ended before it began.<\/p>\n

Hopes and dreams of a new tomorrow
\nWhere love and acceptance abide,
\nKnit together by family and friends-
\nSilenced one fateful night.<\/p>\n

Laughter, love and friendship lived
\nIn courage, young and old-
\nWhere, now, wild bougainvillea
\nCovers stories left untold.<\/p>\n

The bells rang amid angry shouts
\nWhile others just looked away,
\nDrowning out their cries for peace
\nNow saved for another day.<\/p>\n

Some people mocked, others cried,
\nThough neither really knew why.
\nAnd all the questions that could’ve been asked
\nWere summarily dismissed, by and by.<\/p>\n

Their story was lost in the pictures
\nAnd their names faded to grey.
\nThe world turned the pages too quickly
\nAs if to make it all go away.<\/p>\n

But under a jungle canopy
\nAre voices that want to be heard,
\nTelling about the days they tried
\nTo make a better world.<\/p>\n

It’s been said “Those who forget the past
\nAre destined to repeat.”
\nBut those who never reach or try
\nWill remain in their defeat.<\/p>\n

So mock if you must, mourn if you will-
\nBut with their dreams, take care.
\nFor where that bougainvillea grows-
\nBrave angels once walked there.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Joyce Applegate may be reached at <\/em>attaboik@yahoo.com.)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am neither a Jonestown survivor nor a former Peoples Temple member nor a relative of one. I was only 12 in 1978, so until I stumbled on a documentary a while ago, my understanding of Jonestown was limited to the news headlines I remembered from childhood. The documentary made me want to find out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":71043,"menu_order":13,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-70247","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/70247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=70247"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/70247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70253,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/70247\/revisions\/70253"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/71043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=70247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}