Humans have been turning dreams into practical realities

To The Eagle:

Sounds like Mike Swift (letter March 7 edition) swallowed a couple of irony pills before he wrote his letter for last week's edition. I suppose even such a miserable outlook deserves a hearing.

I draw the line, however, at his clueless critique of John (not Vladimir) Lennon’s gentle masterpiece, “Imagine.” If you’ve never heard this ethereal classic or pondered its lyrics, the internet is there to oblige you.

Lennon’s song “Imagine” is much more than a “silly anthem” to those of my generation who treasure it. It can be read as a prayer, sung as a hymn, recited as a poem, hummed as a mantra and appreciated as the bit of wishful wisdom that it is.

It invites us to imagine living in a world without any of the double edged doctrines of religion, nationalism, and materialism. Values that serve to bind us, yet also manufacture the lies that blind us.

“Imagine if there was nothing to kill or die for,” sang Lennon. Yes, a forlorn dream sung by a dreamer. Humans have been turning dreams into practical realities since forever. Consider the American Dream.

Mr. Swift’s statement that people are not basically good is true. I opine that neither are they basically bad. We are just human. Our human nature is a double edged gift which makes us capable of anything on a spectrum from inspirational goodness to horrifying evil.

All the “isms” to which Mr. Swift is so allergic started out as someone’s attempts to create a better society, and ended up being twisted and perverted into a soulless caricature of hopeful ideals, by other people.

Our kids are taught every day in school to pledge their allegiance to a country that should be providing liberty and justice for all. It does not. Without justice there can be no peace.

Lennon also wrote, hoped and sang, “ Give peace a chance.”

JB Bouchard

Puget Island