Blog 160 – 11.12.15

The Beatles sang a song by that title and some of the words were:

“Eleanor Rigby picks up the rice in a church where a wedding has been, lives in a dream…
All the lonely people where do they all come from. All the lonely people where do they all belong.”

Isolated lonely people are the sad victims of a society including themselves who have bought into a terrible lie. The lie is that we are separate, on our own, entire unto our selves. The truth is we are One with the Universe and everyone and everything in it. We are not alone.

How do people become so isolated, fall through the cracks? One way is our misunderstanding about the true nature of what “family” means. Family is not, no matter how popular the stereotype is, one man, one woman and two point five kids. Family is people in a supportive relationship who care about the well being of everyone in the group and are not exclusive but inclusive always willing to make another place around the table or to make a guest room, a sofa, a pallet available to someone who needs a place to sleep.

Somewhere along the way in our rush to acquire security and a home for our children we forgot that we are all children of the same Father and are all brothers and sisters. The myth of the independent person who makes it on his/her own would be comical if the results of such a lie were not so tragic. At one end of the spectrum you have the sad Eleanor Rigbys and on the other end the equally sad Howard Hughes just as isolated, separated, alone, and pitiful.

How do we get it together? I am reminded of the lyric of a Glenn Campbell song from my youth called Try A Little Kindness:

“If you see your brother standing by the road
With a heavy load from the seeds he’s sowed
Or if you see your sister falling by the way
Just stop and say, you’re going the wrong way.

You’ve got to try a little kindness
Yes, show a little kindness
Just shine your light for everyone to see
And if you try a little kindness
Then you’ll overlook the blindness
Of the narrow-minded people on the narrow-minded street.”

Could it really be as simple as that to reorder a society based on greed and self-preservation that has left so many behind and left unsatisfied and empty even those who reap its financial profits? Probably not, but is a good start and a little kindness and the golden rule could make this country and this world a heavenly dream come true for all not just a chosen few.

Your friend and fellow traveler,
David White