I let it play through. Then again. And one more time.
And I thought to myself, “What a wonderful world.”
Louis Armstrong lived through a lot of traumatic events in
his day. The Great Depression. Both World Wars. More wars. The race riots of
the 60’s. Segregation. The assassinations of Martin Luther King. JFK and Bobby
Kennedy.
And yet, he crooned that beautiful song. It calls out the joys of living. Of loving our world and its fellow travelers.
It’s been a bad week for America. I have no answers, no solutions. If I have a
wish, it’s that Americans remember that we are all Americans. Some of us are
very good, others very bad. Most of us are somewhere in the middle. Our friends
and neighbors may be Christians or Muslims or Buddhists, straight or gay. They could be African
American or Asian or Indian. Maybe they believe in gun control or they feel safer
with a gun in their home. They may not
look like we do or speak like we do or have the exact same beliefs. But in our hearts, the vast majority of us want
the same things. To enjoy some measure of happiness. To create a safe environment for ourselves and our children. To go about our lives without fear. To have a roof over
our head, plenty of food to fill our stomach and enough in our wallet to get us through the week.
If we could refrain from labeling one another, quit setting
up camps and spitting vitriol at the folks on the other side of the fence, and
take the time to see each other from the inside out, just think.
What a wonderful world.
No comments:
Post a Comment