Imagine

A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.
~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Flight to Arras, 1942

I’ve been known to have the occasional flight of fancy, the odd notion every now and again. But lately, I seem to have been plagued with untethered ideas, an imagination spurred by recent events, both personal and public, about how the world could (and really should) be a better place.

Perhaps it is the swirl of negativity on the news, with reports of American lives lost in a too-long war, of American politics being more about “winning” than about “governing” or helping out the people they are supposed to be governing. Of a worldwide economy in crisis. Perhaps it is the spate of reality TV, talk TV, and just plain TV, where yelling and meanness are played as more important than their opposites. Where creatures of all sorts –human and not– are in danger from starvation, violence, or abuse. Where one of the most historical cities in Europe explodes in fire and violence.

Or, perhaps, it is how that meanness and rude behavior plays out everywhere I look in the spaces around me: littering, dangerous driving, snide comments, rude emails, and a general “me-first” mentality that seems to drive people’s actions more and more.

Now don’t get me wrong, I know there is good. I see that, too, everyday. The kindness that some people still generate and believe in. But the proportion is slipping, changing in the wrong direction.

And to me, that’s a sad thing.

So today, I’ll play John Lennon for a while and do as he suggests:

Imagine

Imagine there’s no Heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one

I’m guessing I’m not the only one….. so what’s the world you imagine?