And I’ll give you a heartbeat,
And a bit of tear and flesh,
It’s not very much but while it’s there,
You can have it, you can have it. – y. ono

I woke up this morning and my brain was leaking. Good thing I have this blog to put it in. Sometimes I wake up in the morning to run on sentences. It’s like walking into the middle of a conversation. I’m not sure how long my brain had been talking to itself before I happened to walk in on it. Usually I just apologize, crawl out from under the blankets and leave the room.

So what was my brain running on about? You’ll be sorry you asked. . .

So there was this guy in New York City who when hit by a car was immediately tasked with a question. It may have come upon him right while he was flying through the air. When hit by a car and flying through the air you do have some time to wonder. Maybe you’d wonder about the landing? Maybe you’d wonder why everything sailing past was in black and white? Well, I can answer that one. It’s December, 1931 and color film is not very common. Hmm. It used to be said that we don’t dream in color. Maybe that was true back in those days. But today I think we have higher expectations.

Well, Winston Churchill (when he came to) wondered just this way; How fast would a 2,400 pound car have to be going to send a 200lbs man 30 feet? Good Question! Funny thing is, everyone tells that story but no one actually shares the answer.I was also thinking of Dr. Winston O’Boogie. On this day in 1980 I would have still been dazed over the shock of Mr. Lennon’s murder just a few days earlier. I was 15. He was my personal roll model. It was especially hard in that my father had died only a couple years earlier. Also in December. Death is hung with Christmas lights in my mind.

Like anyone I love the music, but for me I was enamored with the movement. Being born in 1965 I grew up with the Vietnam war being part of my daily experience. I have strong memories of “honor rolls” scrolling down the TV screen after the news each night. Names & towns, names & towns, down, down down. . . As a kid you always caught the honor rolls while waiting for a favorite show to come on. John & Yoko kept suggesting that peace was something easily attainable if people just wanted it. And as much as it’s naive, it’s also true. Nothing is forcing you or I to be evil, rude, or un-caring. Nothing. “War is Over, (if you want it)”. Usually as a society we just don’t want it enough.

Today most of us I think, feel pretty helpless while the powers that be dance the same dance they’ve danced since the first stone of Babylon was set. Odd how people can believe there will ever be a battle to end all battles, a war to stop all wars. There isn’t. It won’t. Sadly it’s what we do. We bicker, we battle, we wage.

But Lennon also influenced me to struggle for peace, if only in those around you. Even in our own little circles we must often battle for kindness. People who thought Lennon was just some dreamy eyed peace-monger certainly didn’t hear him swear enough! Trying to be the good you want to see in the world is kick in the gut, slap in the face, fist fight each and every day. The battle is quite often more internal, then external. Acts of kindness often begin with aggression. Kind aggression. Action. Offering. Kind words spoken, not just thought then forgotten. Yeah, it’s not easy. Just like in everything else we fail. Often atrociously. Some days, it’s hard to feel love. It’s tough to give a damn. It’s frustrating to have good deeds met with suspicion, then get up in the morning and try to do it all over again.

We’re having a snow storm today. Happy Christmas. . .

Hold on world , world hold on
It’s gonna be alright
You gonna see the light

When you’re one
really one
You get things done
like they’ve never been done
So hold on – lennon

-d

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