John Lennon, rose from obscurity to become a powerful voice for peace.
With his music and lyrics he encourages us to focus on peace and harmony, to imagine a world "as one".
If anyone had told him, "what's the use, "they" have all the power", I guess he simply ignored it and did what he could, using his talents to urge mankind to at least imagine the possibility of a better world.
Although he was brutally slain by a bullet, no bullet could ever kill his legacy of music and lyrics, it lives with us still.
To stand up for a better society, necessitates courage, tenacity and conviction, and perhaps also the vision for the possibility of a "good" society.
Watching a heated debate on TV, a very smart woman suggested that perhaps it is time for us to be less preoccupied with budgets and other economical issues, and instead focus more of our intentions on building a "good society". (Which obviously includes the economical)
A "good society"? Could this mean: An aggregate of people living together in a harmonious
community with common values and customs?
Or: A good society is a set of institutions (bodies/establishments) that enable its members/citizens to live in peace together. Or: A good society is one in which inequality within each community among them is being significantly reduced.
And so forth......I guess perhaps it is possible to conclude that a "good society" takes care and cares for its members regardless of status, race, religions or other belief systems. A good society takes care of its most vulnerable, its disenfranchised.
Imagine with me a globe, close your eyes and spin it. Now put your finger anywhere......would you call the nation where your finger landed; a good society?
Ok, so now.....scan the globe slowly with eyes wide open, can you find a country you would classify as a "good society", bearing in mind the definitions presented earlier.
Aristotle has been quoted as saying: "You can judge a nation by the way it treats its most vulnerable citizens", and Gandhi said: "A society will be judged on the basis of how it treats its weakest members",.... Should we use these words to measure nations by, where do we find a "good society"?
"What's the point, they have all the power," I have heard many say. "There's no such thing as a good society, that's just an illusion", some say. "What do you mean, good society,...what's wrong with this one?" "Hey, democracy and meritocracy works, people get what they deserve......"
For a brief moment I tried to imagine what it would be like to live in a "bad society".
I imagined a totally corrupt government, institutions who use coercive powers to enrich itself and influential interest groups, who infringe on the freedom of others to choose how they live, who promote conflict between individuals and groups with differing interests, a society with no degree of security against threats such as natural disasters, an no institutions to cater for financial support or emergency accommodation for disaster affected citizens. I imagined a nation who goes to war in order to manage its population growth and unemployment, who silences all voices of discontent, and who ignores the suffering because of the financial stress it places on the economy.
Sad to say, for some, this my be how they view their reality, not their imagination.
But mankind can do better. If we can split the atom and land ourselves on the moon, surely we can overcome our indifference and taste for narcissistic pursuits?
John Lennon encourages us to:
"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 greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people, sharing all the world....."
Change begins with an idea,
an idea that something can be different,
the idea then inspire us to action,
which in turn promotes change.
We can do better, but "we can't solve our problems using the same thinking we used when creating them" said Einstein.
Thinking, is hard work.....and according to Henry Ford, a reason why so many avoid it, Plato reckons that thinking is the soul talking. Perhaps it is time for us to start thinking more about lives of value and meaning, of equality and liberty for all,
of support and encouragement for those who struggle,
of how to be less judgemental and more compassionate.
We can do better.
Why not imagine a "good society", it is easy if we try
no more inhumanity, no more senseless crime,
Imagine all the people, living life in peace...
We can do better.
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