You know sometimes how you’ll think of an old friend, and then a few seconds later the phone rings? I’ve had a few of those moments in a string over the last few days, and here’s this morning’s.

I listen to music when I work, often the same song over and over for hours until it kind of disappears into the background. Today it was Woody Guthrie’s angry national anthem, This Land is Your Land, as performed live by Bruce Springsteen about 25 years ago. Then on the front page of Reddit, someone out there posts this picture.

I’ve roamed and rambled and I’ve followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
And all around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me

Many of the times when this song has been recorded, it’s been interpreted as a kind of jaunty, upbeat, feel-good little ditty. Guthrie didn’t really mean it that way; it was more like a beautiful, defiant declaration of independence. And like most great folk music, it was also a call to action.

Some people don’t believe in coincidences, but I like them when they come along. Somehow they make me feel like I’m on the right track.