Blog 624 – 05.06.2017
He Ain’t Heavy He’s My Brother

In 1969 Kelly Gordon and later that same year a British boy band called the Hollies released a hauntingly beautiful song written by Bob Russell and Bobby Scott called He Ain’t Heavy He’s My Brother. Here are some of the words:

“It’s a long long road
With many a winding turn
That leads us to who knows where
Who knows where
But I’m strong
Strong enough to carry him
He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother.”

Today my brother, Robert Wayne White, is sweet sixteen and never been kissed. Of course he has been kissed and as for his true age you will have to cut me in half and count the rings to get that out of me but I will gladly sing that he is Young At Heart. I have known him all his life having arrived before he did and I can say his heart is light and that he has done a lot more carrying me than I ever carried him. What my brother taught me more than any other man is how to love a brother and because of that in large part I have come to see all men as my brothers and to try my best to treat them as I would my baby brother. If I saw my brother hurting or in trouble I would do my very best to lend a hand. I love him as I love myself. I haven’t always loved myself as much as I should have and some maybe think I love myself too much now but I think that is just as impossible as it is to love God or others too much. You cannot really do one without doing all three. Think about it, I think, you will have to agree.

I would like to wish my brother the happiest of birthdays and I hope that he is somewhere today doing what he loves to do most. I have lately hit upon a little phrase that I include with most of my birthday wishes for friends and family alike. True friends are family and true family are friends. What I would tell them all everyday but especially on their birthday is:

“I hope you know how widely and deeply that you are loved.”

The line, “He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother” supposedly comes from an 1884 account of a little Scot girl carrying her baby brother who was almost as big as her. Someone asked her if he was heavy. And surprised, the little girl replied, “He’s na heavy, he’s mi brither.” That little girl knew that the real power, the real strength, comes from loving. No burden or brother is too heavy for love to carry. I had heard when I was in the military during the Vietnam War that the inspiration for the line came from a soldier’s account of a South Korean boy carrying another wounded boy almost his size and when the soldier asked if he could help him carry his load he replied, “No thank you, he isn’t heavy, he’s my brother.” It warms my heart and wets my eyes to realize there are probably countless examples throughout time where that line or a very similar one might have been spoken. Some of the more shining examples of love at its best, its strongest, its most pure.

Happy Birthday, Brother Bob, and my birthday wish for you today and everyday is that you know how widely and deeply that you are loved. And thank you for being the kind of brother that it was so easy to learn to love.

Your friend, fellow traveler, and Bob White’s brother,
David White