Finn Harald Røed's blog / web diary

A combination of reflection and impulsive notes, remarks and thoughts seen from my side of the drawing board.

August 28, 2010
I have updated my page on MySpace. Added the video of "I replace myself", changed the layout and uploaded a couple of new pictures. You'll find it right here:
Finn Harald Røed on MySpace

August 26, 2010
A few days ago, my 73 year old father, my 10 year old son and I cut down a huge tree with a chainsaw. This was one impressive, tall, healthy and majestic tree. However, it stood too close to our cabin in the woods to be left there forever. We felt the ground tremble as it went down with the sound of a fallen giant, never to rise again. I counted the annual circles whiched showed the tree was 135 years old. Looking at the fallen giant, strechted out in it's full length with it's thick branches - it suddenly occured to me that this tree had been living and growing on it's little spot in the woods for a really long time. Actually since 1875.

Around the time it was still a little sapling, women couldn't vote. In most western countries they had to wait another 40 years. Blacks were by most white men still (at the best) considered deferior. European nations like France, England and Germany were busy with colonization of Africa and Indochina. Indian tribes (Sioux, Apaches etc.) in North America were still trying to stand up against the white imperialists. No cars existed, and no airplanes either. The first primitive telephone was just invented, but still very far away from the lives of ordinary people. Henrik Ibsen was very much alive and released some of his most famous plays. Mormon polygamy was still practiced under the leadership of American pioneer Brigham Young. Great composers like Tchaikovsky and Brahms were still writing music. Western heroes Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday were at their heights. The second industrial revolution (the technological revolution) had just started, and from 1870 Japan laid the foundation of it's leading industrial role in Southwest Asia. The British Empire covered about a quarter of both the Earth's land area and it's population - spreading British political, linguistic and cultural legacy. The painter Edvard Munch was 12 years old, while composer Edvard Grieg was writing the music for the play "Peer Gynt". Historic prophiles like Adolf Hitler, Albert Einstein and Joseph Stalin weren't born yet. Norway was still stuck in a union with Sweden. Electric street lights were not yet in use. Electricity in people's homes and our time's standard electric equipment didn't exist. And the chainsaw was still not invented.

It feels strange and somewhat sad to have ended the life of such a historic giant. It just stood there timeless and wise. Untouched by human history, culture and conflicts. After 135 years it's gone forever. It only helps a little bit to think that some of the other trees nearby most likely are it's decendants.

July 12, 2010
Over the years some of my friends turned out to be people simply feeding on my short time popularity in certain settings. They didn't stay for long. Others simply turned out to enjoy the company of my wife or some other acquaintances, adding me to their social network as a necessity to be able to be with them. Some others simply needed a person to spend time with - in lack of other or better choices or opportunities. As with everyting else without true value, these friendships all eventually slide into oblivion along with their motives, leaving nothing but obscure and unwanted side notes in my book of life.

However, at this point I also want to point out that I've had certain loyal friends that had the courage and will to choose sides when the going got tough. They stayed by my side even if it wasn't the easiest or most popular thing to do. And, they didn't even retreat when they realized I wasn't as perfect or good as they once imagined. I'm grateful for them, and hope I can prove the same degree of loyalty and strength towards other people if ever offered the chance.

July 8, 2010
Redemption. What a big word. I just watched the movie "The men who stare at goats". Got caught up in the line "I felt the little man in me again, and he screamed like a little girl". Today, for a few seconds or even minutes, I suddenly felt a relieving sort of gratitude about bad experiences that changed my life forever.

Looking back at them from a safe distance, they somehow added the excitement and tension that everyday life suffers the total lack of. I'm not sure what to feel about the people involved. But the experiences themselves? All mindblowing, like I once lived within a movie that was never released to the public, but that would have touched the hearts of multitudes if it had been.

May 31, 2010
I wonder what would be the most accurate way to measure a nation's level of civilization. One thought I keep coming back to is "the repect of life", or simply comparing murder statistics. Or maybe simply comparing crime rates? Another interesting angle would be to compare health care systems, or in general how each nation treats their own inhabitants AND whether or not their foreign policy results in war or peace. What about military budgets? Or what about prison population rates?

To start with, I find it interesting that Norway in 2006 had a murder rate of about 0,7 pr. 100 000 people. I wish that number was lower, but compared to most other countries it is quite low already. As an example, America deals with 5,6 murders pr. 100 000 people, which is about 9 times more murders pr. capita than in Norway. Countries like Japan and Denmark also prove their high grade of civilization with "only" about 0,5 murders pr. 100 000 people. England has about 1,4, and Canada 1,8. I'm sure there are lots and lots of books about why people in the USA kill each other so much, including some obscure explanations on why this is no proof whatsoever that the country is in trouble. ;-)

I feel it illustrates my point that the US also has the highest PRISON POPULATION RATE in the world, with some whopping 738 people in prison pr. 100 000 inhabitants (almost 2,2 million people!). The figure for Russia is 611 pr. 100 000. However, Norway has only 66, Denmark 71 and Japan 62. Canada has 107.

I didn't originally intend to write about the USA as I started investigating this topic. However, it turned out to be impossible not to, as I got more and more surprised to see that such an influential country scores so badly in so many important areas. Unfortunately, when it comes to starting or fighting wars (most with little or no relevance to their own or their allies' security), the US also ends up in the outmost wrong end of the scale. Their health care system sucks, even though Obama has tried to improve things slightly. The same thing can be said about workers' rights, etc. The country surely is different in so many ways from the part of the world where I'm living, even though we do share some (mainly exterior) common ground. On the other hand, I'm happy to see that the countries in northern and western Europe, plus several countries in the Middle East (f.ex. Quatar) and East Asia (f.ex. Japan) are doing so well.

It's important to feel good about what is good in the world! :-)

May 10, 2010
I love this season. Spring. Symbol of creation and new beginnings or second chances. Today I'm Finn the web developer and family man. No musician or artist available. I'm a man of rapid changes, switching between the simplest frames and complex multi-tasking, restless energy crushing activities. Tomorrow only knows.

Apr 13, 2010
Lately I've been thinking quite a lot about what to write in here. I just can't imagine what I would actually want to share with the world that may be of any particular interest to anyone whatsoever. It all boils down to how to make people pay attention to you. In lack of any great accomplishments, you need to go public with some serious personal stuff that will wake both anger and sympathy, despise and curiosity. Or maybe some level of misguided admiration or recognition. You need to share something that most people never would have dared to talk about, not even with their closest friends or family.

You need to expose yourself to such an extent that no one will think of you the same way again. Not ever. Your public image will change, and so will your personality and value. And your friends. The new information about your thoughts or feelings will add so much spice and interpreted emotion to people's impression of you, that it will color their impression of all you say and do for many years to come, if not for the rest of your life.

Be careful not to let them make you think they really know you, though. People tend to oversimplify and jump to conclusions based on fragments of information. After all, in real life you're the same, old average Joe as before, just trying to hang in there. Once again doing your best to hide, rather than share, what's left of your inner secrets. You know, in fear of loosing the little respect you may have re-earned over the years. It all sounds quite exhausting, don't you think?

Mar 22, 2010
Would I even dare or bother to comment on the US health care reform that passed the House today? Sure I do. ;-) I'm bewildered and appalled by the fact that the religious right has been fighting against the reform. These people proclaiming their christian faith while at the same time politically supporting the republican egoism and absence of most of what I associate with Jesus Christ and basic christian principles. It seems like they just can't stand the thought of a new law that will give the poorest and weakest 10% Americans (about 30 million human beings) the chance to receive basic health care. We're talking about a huge amount of people (read "neighbors" in the christian sense of the word) where the overwhelmingly huge majority can't afford health care insurance, or for some other reason aren't able to function in a capitalist plutocracy.

It's quite incomprehensible to me, looking from the outside, that someone without hesitation may even try to combine a christian faith with a conviction of that all these people deserve to be kept down. And what's the excuse? Oh yes, the key word is "freedom". Freedom said to make sure that the poor are given the chance to help themselves, because if they REALLY tried, they didn't have to be poor or sick while living in the land of the free.

The people of a modern, humane and civilized democracy will build and support a political system that ensures the laws take care of and protect the people. It will not provide and support a system that favors the rich and those relying on the strength of their own arm (Isaiah 10:13-19), but also the poor and needy. A true democracy will listen to the voice of the weak, not just the voice of those living in the upper part of the food (economic) chain. Good laws will even out the differences between people. They will provide for the weak and needy, in order to rise them up from poverty and bring them out of the dark. And for those that can't become stronger (yes, some people simply aren't as strong as others), the nation will have a system that shares the riches so that as many as possible can live full lives.

The overwhelming majority of newly poor Americans are children, according to an analysis by the Children's Defense Fund (CDF). Most poor Americans are trapped within the borders of a political system and a people's opinion that make sure they aren't able to make enough money to get out of a bad neighborhood, even if they have three jobs. Some are depressed, bitter, crushed, beaten, and have little or no self esteem or faith in the future. They have little or no chance of helping themselves without the help of the system. A system that can only be created by the people, for the people.

Some right wing christians refer to "free agency" when arguing against the health care reform. Free agency as in "they did it to themselves - and it's their right and privilege to get out of their own mess". Why not just say it out loud (ok, someone does): "We don't want to share our money with the poor". Or, "we work hard for OUR money, why should we let the state share OUR MONEY with someone else?". And: "We want to give money to the poor without the state doing it for us". Well, obviously you don't give enough. You just don't. The "freedom theory" is a simple black and white philosophy that takes for granted that everyone in trouble can fix themselves and their situation if they want to, no matter the circumstances. In addition it fights against any laws that will make sure the weakest are getting benefits they can't get by their own efforts. It indicates that the poor and weak in reality are poor and weak because they're lazy, unstructured or simply stupid. It's a philosophy that says that it's not the state's job to help the poor and the needy to get a respectable life, and not even the chance to get basic medical help when they're sick. That is, unless they are able to raise the money it takes. In other words: The poor are poor because it's their own fault. They made some wrong choices at a certain point, and now they have to pay. They did it to themselves. Maybe not everyone, but at least most of them. And you never know which is which!

I don't find this even remotely close to being Christ-like. Unless we're talking about the Jesus Christ of the US of A. Believe me: God never knew him.

Matthew, 25:41-46:
41. Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
42. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,
43. I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
44. They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
45. He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
46. Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.

Jan 06, 2010
It's a new decade. I've asked myself why the previous one went by so quicly and why so little happened. However, after some reconsideration and a closer look at my life, the past 10 years have been more than filled with content. Good and bad days. Successes and disappointments. Sorrow and joy. As a matter of fact the last ten years (the age of 31-41) have been extremely loaded. In January 2000 I had just become a first time father (of my now 10 year old son). I had just gotten the job that I now have kept for more than 10 years. I didn't own a house of my own. I hadn't released music since 1996.

The last decade I have developed into a rather established and experienced grownup. I have been married for soon 14 years. I'm the father of three healthy sons. I've had the same job for almost 11 years. I have lived in three houses owned by my wife and I, including the one in Sweden where we lived for about 1,5 years. I was a reverend from 2001-2003, a devoted believer and a well-meaning man who fell to earth - just to bounce back up in a new version colored by life.

As most people I've had my ups and downs, but I'm still around and both the good and bad things were interesting lessons when watched from a distance and in a perspective. I guess it all just sums up my private collection of challenges and knowledge that define who I am today. I choose to focus on and think back on the good things of this decade, and the good things came in bundles!

As for my music and artistic life, I compiled an MP3 album with 10 songs from the Kingdom X period in 2002 - and relased both that album and my music website in 2004. The website has grown and developed ever since. I wrote the new songs for and released two complete MP3 CD's with music written in 2003-2008. I wrote and released a children's book ("Poff og Pia"), a book with short stories and a piano lesson book with both music theory and sound files with piano exercise examples. My latest effort was the MP3 single "Anything for love" - released just on the outmost edge of the now bypassed decade. These are only a few of the things I've experienced. I would say this decade taught me me more about life than the one before that. I simply finally grew up.

Jan 05, 2010
Happy new year! I'm now finally on YouTube. One of the uploaded music videos is a brand new one with the 1996-version of "Unconscious Mind". I will regularly upload more videos and songs to the Finn Harald Røed YouTube Channel. Feedback is always appreciated! Below you may watch the latest video / song presentation of "Unconscious Mind", which you may also find as a free download via the video link on this website.

"Unconscious Mind" was a local underground hit in the Kristiansand area of Norway between 1993-1996. It was originally written in 1992, and became one of the signature songs of the band "The Kingdom X" in 1993/94. It was later released on my solo CD "Transformation" in 1996, and played on local and national radio stations both before and after that.

This video basically shows an artist photo of The Kingdom X' songwriter and vocalist (Finn Harald Røed, myself). The song lyrics are shown in sync with the vocals. BTW: The photo is my Kingdom X signature photo from 1993/94.