First the poem, such as it is, which came to me the first winter after John was killed. Bless you, and thank you, John. Bless us all, everyone.
to john who now flows-first winter
on the telephone wire a sparrow
cocks its head, a motion which turns
the key in my old Volkswagen
that makes the sound of this
cricket in my room
who does not seem to know
that it is winter
More below the fold.
I've had the pieces of this diary lying around on Wordpad for awhile now. The twenty-fifth anniversay of John Lennon's passing seemed like a good time to ask these questions. John knew what the problem was, and he offered the solution. Imagine.
Questions About Respect
- Do you think that the respect issue is unimportant?
- Do you think that the respect issue is a theoretical nicety that has little to do with our most pressing problems or the next election?
- Do you think that we can solve issues related to war, torture, global warming, starvation, mass murder, rape, child abuse and the ever present threat of nuclear war/accident/terrorism without a more respectful society?
- Do you think that a police state, corporate society, personality cult dictatorship or democracy with no interest in becoming a more respectful society can save us from the impending nuclear and/or environmental catastrophe that many of us feel at the back of our neck?
- Do you think that it's better to spend time and energy working individually on countless problems rather than trying to solve the problem which causes all the other problems?
- Do you think that we can possibly survive without creating a more respectful society?
- Do you think that we can create a respectful society without consciously naming that as our goal?
- Do you think that it's unimportant to admit or name a problem, before solving it? ( i.e. There's no need to admit being an alcoholic before one stops drinking, and there's no reason for the human beings to recognize universal disrespect as the biggest threat to our survival before we create a better world.)
- Do you think that nothing that we've learned about the way human beings think, feel and act (i.e. human nature) in the last one hundred years could possibly be of any use in creating practical ways for us to get along?
- Do you think that we can continue to disrespect the thin halo of life that surrounds the planet?
- Do you think that we need answers about how to build a more respectful society, before we start asking questions?
- Do you think we have a lot of time to learn how to respect one another and ourselves?