This weekend, everywhere I turned, I could feel the world crying.
The sanctioned atrocities of war. The horrendous day-to-day realities that leave parents no choice but to send their children hundreds of miles north to save their lives. The damage to our planet, that we condone in the name of cheap energy.
This weekend, it all just got to me.
So I did what I do when the dark side threatens to take over. I asked the people around me to describe a different world. On Facebook and Twitter and Google+ I asked, “What does peace look like to you?”
My intent was to gather those moving, lyrical, inspiring, heartfelt responses and to blog them later this week.
One response couldn’t wait, though. Within the many thoughtful paragraphs of her response, Katie Grace Bell shared that she begins each day singing Imagine.
My heart pounded. I breathed deep. And I vowed right there to do the same.
Not to just listen, or to sing along silently, but to sing out loud – to own those words.
And I could think of no better way to start the week than to ask you to join me.
(If you are viewing this post in an email reader, click here for the video. It is the original from 1971 with John and Yoko.)
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 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 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
Have an amazing week, everyone.
Many thanks to Lennyjjk via wikimedia commons, for sharing his photo.