Imagine

John Lennon wrote a song called "Imagine" sometime in the early 1970's. (If you haven't heard it, the lyrics can be found here: http://www.lyrics007.com/John%20Lennon%20Lyrics/Imagine%20Lyrics.html.)

This song is meant to be inspirational and peace-making, but when I first read the lyrics of the song, I was stunned at how depressed they made me feel. Lennon speaks of a world where "there's no countries [races]",  "no religion", "nothing to...die for", everyone is "living for today".

"No race." Our skin, eyes and hair should us proud of who we are. They represent our culture, our ancestors and our histories. No two people look exactly alike. We are each an individual, created with features we should treasure, not be ashamed of. Do we want to give up our individuality for peace?

"No religion." No faith, no morals, no beliefs. I treasure my faith above everything else. Would you want to live with nothing to believe in for peace?

"Nothing to die for." Nothing worth dying for. Not our families, friends, or countries. Nothing to stand up for or believe in. Would you give up your voice for peace?

Everybody "living for today." Would you want to live only for now? Just for today? Not having any goals, or dreams for the future? Would you give up your dreams for peace?

While I admire Lennon's passion for peace, I have to say the idea of it is merely impossible. If we want to achieve perfect peace, we would have to lay down everything we believe in. Our faith, morals, dreams, ambitions and ideas. We would each become each other, all living in the same person. To achieve peace, we could not have conflict. To avoid conflict, we couldn't stand up for anything. Not having anything worth standing up for defeats the purpose of us being here on this earth.

IMTO, Lennon's dream of perfect peace is simply impossible.

TTYL.