Last week, in my post “2017 NPR Tiny Desk Contest Submission,” I shared with you the song that I submitted for the NPR Tiny Desk Contest, “Where’s the Peace?”

If you haven’t checked out the song yet, here it is:

The lyrics are as follows:

© 2017 Allison Merten
Why can’t we/Live together in harmony?/Why do we hate?

Life’s too short./What a waste./What if we could change?

What if we could be/The best people that we can/And create a world of peace?

Where’s the peace that the hypocrites say we’ll find?/ Is there peace?

Or is it beyond our time?/Beyond our time.

Why do we judge/Instead of choosing to love?

It shouldn’t matter the color of one’s skin./One’s gender or/One’s religion.

What if we could change?/What if we could be

The best people that we can/And create a world of peace?

Where’s the peace that the hypocrites say we’ll find?/Is there peace?

Or is it beyond our time?/Beyond our time.

To be loved.

Happiness./To be safe./To succeed./Isn’t that what/We all want?

Why can’t we/Fill our hearts with peace?

Where’s the peace that the hypocrites say we’ll find?/Is there peace?

Or is it beyond our time?/Beyond our time.

This song is very important to me. It’s actually been with me for a long time.

I was a teenager when the September 11th attacks occurred. As a teenager, I didn’t understand much about the world. I felt absolutely numb with shock on that day. I could not wrap my mind around the fact that a group of people had so much hatred in their hearts that they murdered nearly three thousand innocent people. 😥

I was filled with so much sadness. The only thing that I could do at that time was express my feelings through music. I wrote “Where’s the Peace?” in 2011. However, at that time, I was not performing music and was not making an album, so I didn’t do anything with the song.

I have no idea where the lyrics and the music to the version of the song that I wrote in 2011 went. I basically forgot about the song until the chorus popped up in my thoughts a couple months ago.

I have been so saddened to see so much hatred lately. Rewriting “Where’s the Peace?” gave me an outlet for coping with my sadness.

Please take a moment to think about the lyrics of my song.

May you all fill your hearts with love so that we may all live in peace. ❤