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?
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 that 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
~ by John Lennon
My little place in this world is simple with very little complications. I own my own business, I pay very little for a great one bedroom apartment in pricey San Francisco, I have friends who keep my head above water and a cat that likes tummy rubs. Days go by and I don't have to think about anyone else in the world but me. But I recently spent time with a group of people that forced me to think about how as a culture we seem to tolerate bigots, racists, ignorance and religious fanatics. I stepped outside my little world, and realized more and more that I have no choice but to deal with, either directly or indirectly through the media, those who want to live there lives by telling everyone else what to do.
This image was taken at the Gay Pride parade in San Francisco in June. The parade is always a visual eye-opener, a place where I feel anyone can have a great time. Shortly after I got there, a woman came along and just sort of planted herself in one spot and then whipped out a hoola-hoop. She was cute and smiled as she did her thing. She was fascinating to watch as she went in time with a band that was playing off in the distance. People would stop to watch her or, like me, photograph her. It was a beautiful day and people were quite jolly and spunky; and they were there to obviously have good time of whatever sort that may have been.
These moments of enjoyment with hoola-hoops or some other innocent venture, appear to be fewer and farther between. The Gay Pride parade and those who attended, either gay or straight, were just there for a good time but there are those who can only see evil and immorality. Dealing with the bad side of human nature just sucks and seems to be waxing at a great pace. Exactly how much more shit is going to happen between now and when I'm, say, 50-years old? How many more people do I have to deal with who no longer practice basic manners or behave in a completely self-serving way? How long am I going to have to tolerate fundamentalists who blow people to bits on their way to work? How many more doctors will be killed having dinner with their family because some asshole thinks an abortion doctors deserve to die? How many more priests are going to be protected after raping children for decades? How many more pension funds are going to be wiped out by executives with $1 million trust funds for their kids?
Suddenly, I'm aware of my own mortality and I wonder why anyone would want to live to an old age when they have to live in this F&$% up world. I feel so sorry for those people who were on their way to work only to be killed by a rogue zealot stupid enough to strap on a bomb. I feel sorry for the people who try to do better in the world only to be picked off one by one, until one day we're stuck with a "bad" majority. Now, I don't know that that is actually going to happen but it seems to be the way. The bad kill a few at a time and the good go about their business. The bad procreate at lightning speed and good reproduce in smaller and smaller numbers. I just don't want to be here to see that day. I watch a lot of the History and Discovery Channels and know that millions of years ago a huge meteor hit the planet just off the Yucatan in Mexico and wiped out everything. I'm just wondering, if a meteor hit the planet today and we had to start all over again, will we be better off? But then of course the real question is: would history repeat itself? Would we really just do the same shit all over again?
I just think life would be easier if we all lived a little less by the book and a little more by "live and let live" in a good way like a smile and a nod when someone passes you on the street both wishing the other a "Good Day".
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