One of the first CDs I bought, here in the United States, of course, included Louis Armstrong's What a wonderful world. Any time I played it, I always visualized the toothy-smiled face of his, and the visual and the song never failed to make me smile. It never failed to trigger in me a feeling that it is a wonderful world.
With every passing year, I gain more good and bad experiences. And, I appreciate all the more Armstrong singing that it is a wonderful world. I suspect that it takes years of living to truly resonate with that song and its lyrics and its meaning and the singer. I am getting there. Slowly.
I am awed by the trees and the forests. By the blue sky and the white clouds. By the rains that come down. By the rainbows that I see. By the double-rainbows that I see. And, yes, I think to myself, what a wonderful world!
Strangers email me and we become friends. Best friends. Friends message me worrying why I am not online. We are really saying I love you.
Out on the bike path, we strangers say hello. Young ones and seniors alike. We smile to say hello, even if we don't vocalize it. We nod our heads. Yes, we are really saying, what a wonderful world!
Dogs wagging tails. Dogs chasing balls. Kids chasing balls. Babies crying. Mothers beaming. Fathers watching. How can it not be a wonderful world!
And then I read about the civil wars.
The car bombs.
The suicide bombs.
The shooting sprees.
The tortures.
The rapes.
It is not a wonderful world anymore.
Did they not listen to Armstrong singing?
But then, maybe the background of those horrors is also why the dogs and the trees and the river and the sky and the flowers and the babies and the beautiful women make it all the more a wonderful world.
I will check that wonderful world right away. Am heading to the river.
3 comments:
After a crazy hot and busy day yesterday, we went to the spray park with the kids. The water stopped earlier than expected so we could only enjoy it for a few mins. But then on our drive back the daughter requested to go to the hilltop and watch the sunset, and we reached just in time to see the setting sun, and "what a wonderful world" is exactly how I felt.
Loved this post!
Wonderful post - one to come back again and again.
Yes, for good or for not so good, it IS a wonderful world.
After the Alzheimer's post, the best of follow ups !
glad you two liked it ...
yes, watching the sun set with kids can always be an awesome experience, shachi.
btw, reminds me of that old joke:
a dad takes his five-year old to the beach to watch the sun set.
as it begins to dip down, the father counts down 5 ... 4... 3....2 ...1 .... gone!
the kid gets excited and days, "do it again, dad, do it again" ;)
so, ramesh, i gave you some hope today after the depressing post yeserday, eh ;)
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