Unlike Mel Brooks’ “History of the World, Part 1,” some things having to do with the world do get a sequel
. The day before Christmas in 2012 I wrote a blahg with the title WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE WORLD? and thought I would not need to revisit the theme. Little did I know that almost 9 years later I would be thinking about those words again…or rather uttering them out loud. I thought it was time to ask the question again and to see if my solutions have held up or if I have better ones to offer.
My blahg last time had to do with the Sandy Hook massacre and other world issues as well as the fact that someone had hacked my website and inserted malicious code. Here’s what I offered up as solutions at that time:
So what can we do to make this world a better place? Speak out! Everyone has an opinion and a voice and it’s your duty to speak out against injustice and stupidity. Many voices raised in song have done better to heal than those who sit at the back of the room and just mouth the lyrics…The last time I checked, we are all free to be. Free to be whatever we wanted, believe what we wanted, worship how we wanted, love how we wanted. You get the message…Look at your loved ones, your relatives, your friends, and tell me you wouldn’t want more time with them if it meant giving up your stubborn opinions. I think we all know the answer to that. Let’s move on…There are some good things in this world. There is love and family and laughter and we need to embrace it during these troubling times. I don’t want to be preachy but sometimes we forget to think of all we are blessed with.
I could go on listing all of 
the problems in the world and war and death and Covid 19 but I think everyone is tired of hearing about it. I’d rather focus on the solutions.
News flash. I don’t have any solutions. I thought love, laughter, and happiness were the cure-alls but many people don’t have those in their lives. Sometimes when I’m looking for an answer, I turn to music. You know a lot of my blahgs are full of music and I thought I would look at some songs that give inspiration or hope or maybe offer up some suggestions that might lead to solutions.
I really like the artist, Sara Groves. I discovered her from the soundtrack to the movie “The Ultimate Gift.” If you want to see a really inspirational movie, check it out. I’m not going to use her song “Something Changed”, from that movie, in this scenario because it’s more a religious experience and one person’s religion should be that one person’s religion. I’ve been thinking more lately about her song “Roll To The Middle.” Essentially the song is about a couple who just had a huge fight and the singer is wondering how they will get beyond the hurt. Part of the lyrics go “All the complicated wars, they end pretty simple. Here when the lights go down, we roll to the middle.” Rolling to the middle is where we find compromise and begin to heal. Here’s the video to that song:
I’m going to be a little sappy for a moment. “What A Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong is uplifting as well. It’s not about “What’s Wrong With The World?” but more about What’s Right. I won’t go on about it but will instead offer up a live performance of Louis singing the song. Not only is the song infectious but Louis’ smile could melt a hardened heart down to butter.
I’m going to sneak The Weepies in here. Readers of my blahgs, if there are any, know that I’m a huge fan of Steven Tannen and Deb Talan, husband and wife team, better known as The Weepies. The following video is for the song “The World Spins Madly On,” which is true but it fits the theme.
The song that cheers me the most is their song, “I Was Made For Sunny Days.” I used to hear this song piped into a local thrift store and found myself singing along. I’ve seen The Weepies twice in concert but I can’t remember if they sang this song. At the core is the theme that sunny days are better than grey days.
I could go on filling this blahg with songs that mean well and mean a lot to me but we might disagree on some of these. The last song is one I think we can all agree on. It’s just fun and it was part of our culture and our history. If you don’t like the Monkees then look away but it doesn’t matter because they’re too busy singing to put anybody down.
Okay, okay, just one more. I know you didn’t ask for it but if I’m going to put forward one more World song then it has to be the one that’s so basic in message that we shouldn’t forget. It’s a Coca Cola commercial and I’m not a fan of the drink but the song “I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing” still packs a punch.
The world is full of hate and fear and confusion and depression and loathing and terrorism and nepotism and nimbyism (look it up) and shouting and crying and living and dying. But those are all words. Chop up the words and they’re just letters and those letters spell better things like loving and hope and resilience and caring and trust and future. Try it for yourself. Take all the bad words and twist them around to make good ones.
I was looking for something to end this blahg with that wasn’t a song. I looked back through my own writing, even further back than the original blahg WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE WORLD?, and I found a poem that I wrote on March 25th, 1986. Surprisingly, it’s about taking apart words to find an all purpose cure. I don’t know what that cure is or what you’ll use it for but if you put in the effort to make positive change then the result is its own reward. Try not to read too much into the poem. I was 23 at the time and the following year I would be married and on another March 25th, being 1994, my son would be born. Take apart the poem if you like and reuse the words. Kinder words spread thicker than all the negative comments stacked together.
AN ALL PURPOSE CURE
Don’t think I
don’t care about
all the world’s illnesses
because I do and
I want to do something about them.
It’s not all physical
I know
but then all the answers
aren’t either.
It’s not all broken bodies
and worn out organs
and dead tissues
but then all the cures
aren’t whole.
I think I’ve got a cure
that’ll better any problem
but it involves some work
and I’m not sure it
might not cure things
you want left as are.
If you could chop up this poem
and swallow it
letter by letter
maybe it would spell out
and all-purpose cure
and surprise you with
the good it can do
In this poem
is every letter you’d need
to help you
and if it could survive
minor digestion
then maybe you’ll be alright
I know it’s a chance
but just being alive
is one of those
and who knows
if it might not give you something to believe in;
but that’s relying on
intelligence being a disease – q.z.x.
.