"Imagine"
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 I'm a dreamer.
But I'm not the only one.
I hope some day you'll join us.
And the world will live as one.*
*John Lennon
"Let's Imagine a Better World and Work to Make it Reality"
I was 13 years old when John Lennon, the former Beatle, came out with the song "Imagine" in 1971.
I can remember sitting by the record player, feeling wise beyond my years, plunking the needle down again and again to listen to his words, sung to simple piano chords.
The album came with a poster, which I sanctimoniously hung in my room. It showed Lennon, dressed in black, singing and playing at a white piano.
As a teenager, my interpretation of this song was that Lennon was saying, "Wow! Wouldn't it be nice if the world was really like this?" He was drawing a contrast between our world, full of strife, and his dreams of world peace.
Now that I am older, I've come to believe that my interpretation was only half right. Yes, Lennon was describing a dream world, of men and women loving each other, without prejudice or war.
But he was also giving us a test.
"Imagine" was a command, not a wistful thought.
He was telling us to imagine the peaceful scenarios, and to keep the visions in our head at all times.
If you think, it will come.
The same thought is underscored in one of the songs that supported African-Americans during the civil rights movement. "Keep your eyes on the prize."
If you think it, if you dream it............It will come.
We live in an Information Age. We can access history, current events and facts by typing in a few commands on our computer, by clicking on our mice, and by turning the pages of our books and newspapers.
We know so much. We overdose on facts each day. But unfortunately we envision so little.
Television and newspapers fill our minds with facts. With so many reports of the sad state or our world today, we have so little time and gray matter left to think about what could be.
We should be talking as much about what the world should be as what the world is.
There's a real need for the pie-in-the-sky.
I wonder if kids roll their eyes when they hear Lennon's lyrics, which are quite saccharine by today's standards. So much current popular music simply recounts the tough times.
We teach our kids math, history, and social studies, but do we teach them to envision?
I have come to believe in the power of prayer. In some ways, Lennon's "Imagine" was telling us to pray.
My two daughters' prayers at night often include a sentence like this. "Help me to be a better girl and love people more."
I'm not sure I believe in prayer as "magic," but I certainly don't believe prayer is the sweet but uninformed musings of little children, or the duty of the minister, priest, or rabbi in the weekly service.
I believe that prayer taps more into a power from within than a power from without.
If you say a prayer, such as, "Let me be a better, more loving person", You May Indeed Become One. You say it, which makes you think it, if only for a moment. The next day, you'll probably do one thing that is kind and good, than if you hadn't said your prayer at all.
Because you said a prayer, you might take the time to talk to someone who's feeling down, or read a book to a child.
Listen to Lennon's song once a day, and you might smile a little more that day, or refrain from snapping at someone at work or home.
Prayers and the song "Imagine" are like daily reminders of what we hope will happen.
Where there is no vision, the people will perish.
I agree with the author of that proverb in the Bible.
Cherish the facts that make us all wiser in this day and age, but keep on Imagining.
I hope someday you'll join us. And the world will live as one.*
* Annette Fuller Reynolds
Indianapolis Star
Amen, BJ and Julie