Controversial student song is now on the Web
BY MICHAElA MARX WHEATLEY
South Whidbey Record
The student who sang a controversial song at the South Whidbey Community Talent Show said he's sorry for offending some audience members but added that his performance was misunderstood.
South Whidbey High School student Ahren Bader-Jarvis closed the annual talent show on May 3 with an original composition about war and violence. The performance offended some audience members due to its graphic lyrics. It also prompted an investigation by South Whidbey School District Superintendent Fred McCarthy.
McCarthy said the performance was inappropriate for the show and had slipped through the screening process.
The investigation has since been closed. McCarthy said he discussed with staff the importance of screening the content of school shows. and a note was made about the incident in school records and shared with the student
Bader-Jarvis declined to speak to a reporter about the controversy. But he said in a letter sent to The Record that he was originally scheduled to perform at the high school's talent night.
After the high school and middle school canceled its shows earlier in the week, Bader-Jarvis was left with only the primary and intermediate schools' night to perform.
"So, I performed that evening. In hindsight everyone involved, myself included, realized that it would have been better for me to perform my song on the high school night," he wrote. "I am sincerely sorry to those parents who did not and do not want their kids exposed to the kind of message portrayed by my song."
Bader-Jarvis said his song was a peace song and was misunderstood. He has since posted the lyrics on the Internet at www.geocities.com/whidbeypeacesong so people can form their own opinion.
The song is entitled “I'm Sorry," and is an apology to all people, in every country, who have lost others because of war, he wrote.
The portion that may have led to the public outcry is a verse about an American soldier who commits suicide after killing the mother of a girl who is the same age as his little sister during the war.
From 'I am sorry'
By Ahren Bader-Jarvis
In the chorus he sings,
I'm sorry
For the blood and the tears
Shed through the years
And lives spent like bills
I'm sorry
For all of my peers
Who ignore their fears
To fire guns at will
I'm sorry
For the lives lost
Raising the emotional
And financial costs
I'm sorry
That we forgot about love
But I want to remind you
No matter who you are
I love you