“Living with Eyes Closed?”
“Living is easy with eyes closed
Misunderstanding all you see,
It’s getting hard to be someone
But it all works out.
It doesn’t matter much to me…”
John Winston Lennon
“Strawberry Fields”
My sister refuses to watch the news. “I just don’t want to know about it,” she tells me. And on one level, she’s SO right: Life is to be enjoyed! (And yeah, I know… the news is never good.)
Our own John Lennon voiced a similar opinion. “Living is easy with eyes closed,” he sang. And he was right. Life’s so much smoother if you don’t know the details.
But wait!! Was John advocating living that way, or was he pointing out (in typical Lennon satire) how very wrong that kind of attitude is? Wasn’t John asking us to examine our actions just the way he always did in “Instant Karma” or “Happy Christmas (War is Over)” or even in “Revolution”?
I think what John was pointing out is that “living with eyes closed” is NOT what we’re called to do. It’s not how we’re called to live.
The answer to, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” is still a resounding “Yes!”? And especially in this season, we’re reminded that we’re inexorably linked to the poor, the war-torn, the abused and neglected, and the lonely. (“Ah, look at all the lonely people!” Paul penned.)
Watching hours and hours of current events and televised news may not be the happiest habit. And certainly watching it without putting any lifestyle changes into action is fruitless and empty.
But maybe this year, we can OPEN our eyes, take a good look at the world around us, and then do something.
Maybe right now, at this moment, we can decide to make 2015 the year in which we:
Volunteer at a shelter
Write a letter to a congressman
Give (a little or a lot) to a good cause
Contribute a song or quote or photo to the Fest Facebook page or the Moments group to lift someone’s spirits
Tweet something important
Champion a cause
Plant a neighborhood garden
Tutor a child
Drive someone to work or to the grocery store
Clean up the neighborhood
Forgive an old wound
Cook for a neighbor who works long hours or who is elderly
Rake someone’s leaves
Call someone who is lonely and chat
Buy a ticket to The Fest for someone and give it to them anonymously! (It’ll be the best time they’ve ever had!)
Knit a scarf for someone who works in the cold
Take in a rescue dog or cat
Encourage someone to make his or her dream come true
Stand up for what you believe in
Give sincere compliments…(you know, the things you think but never have the courage to say)
Withhold judgments
Build faith
Try to smile more and gripe less
It’s 2015, people! This year, let’s take a peek. Let’s open our eyes. Let’s understand what we see, and then do something about it! Let’s make the world less “a lonely branch” and more a “Strawberry Field.”
What say you?
Jude Southerland Kessler
http: //johnlennonseries.com
