While walking the pooch, I had one of those moments where I was fully in the present, absorbing the picture in front of me, feeling it all. There's a small private school nearby and on non-rainy days, the children can often be seen playing outside. Today I saw 4 children swinging joyfully and lazily on a tire swing. One was a hispanic girl, one a girl of middle east descent, one a caucasian boy and the other an african american boy. Four different races, both genders, getting along just fine, sharing a swing, all working together to keep that tire moving. It was just another reminder of who we are as children and what we tend to toss aside as we enter adulthood. It was a metaphor for our potential. A reminder of who we all really are, when you remove all of the stories we've been told about how things really are, who we really should be, think, believe.
As I walked home, I observed some of the cars passing by. One car came up from behind, thumping bass that I could feel through my body. That sort of frequency is something I'm quite sensitive to and normally I react, yell "turn that down" or something like that. Instead, I just observed. I observed the driver, a young male, likely in his late teens to early 20's. He had on his "I'm The Tough One" mask. That look that says "ain't NO ONE messin' with ME". I didn't stop there though. I imagined him as a young boy, facing some of life's difficulties for the first time, and in doing so, I could feel his vulnerability. I could see it. I could hear the messages he received about making it in the world, how to be as a male, how it's better to be tough, better to have some 'tude. It was an amazing experience and I had to fight back the urge to chase after his car and ask if I could give him a hug.
Later on, while driving around to complete some errands, I heard "How Deep Is Your Love" by the Bee Gees on the radio. Now I know some believe the Bee Gee's are pansies who write foo-foo type fluff music. However, as I've grown older and especially as I've studied music and begun the journey of writing my own compositions 10 plus years ago, I've come to the belief that these guys are brilliant songwriters, both lyrically and melodically. I've loved to jam out to their disco tunes throughout my life and yet I haven't always paid attention to the lyrics to some of their songs, this one in particular. Today is the first time I've really listened to the lyrics of this particular song. I got the message. I didn't just sing the words, I understood. I felt. "Cause we're livin' in a world of fools, breakin' us down, when they all should let us be. We belong to you and me." Stunningly beautiful words. Living in a world of fools, breaking us down. Those fools, those who set our cultural, societal values, those who run the System, run our churches, our schools, our governments, our big businesses. Their words, opinions, expectations, demands--breaking us down from who we really are. When in a world of love they would let us be. And we would remember that we don't belong to their silly rules. We belong to ONE ANOTHER.
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