I Know It's Good

Some days, I look around and realize that we live in a world rife with schoolwork without purpose, problems without solutions, religion without reason, questions without answers, wrongdoing without remorse, a future without clarity, and challenge without end. Some days, I can feel my heart breaking and my optimism and faith imploding because of it. Some days have too many readings on global health inequalities and the social injustices that fuel them; too much TV coverage of old men doing nauseating things to children; too many stories of trees chopped, wetlands filled, waters polluted, and critters displaced in the name of human "progress"; too many moments of frustration with the way things are and too few moments to stop and think about how they should and could be. Some days, our world is so very broken, and some days, I just don't have enough glue to fix it.

In the midst of those days, this song positively moves me. Its message and mellow tune move me back in the direction of a full heart, stalwart optimism, and an abiding faith in this world and the people with whom I share it.

I hate to see you cry / Lying there in that position / There's things you need to hear / So turn off your tears and listen / Pain throws your heart to the ground / Love turns the whole thing around / No it won't all go the way it should / But I know the heart of life is good / You know it's nothing new / Bad news never had good timing / Then the circle of your friends / Will defend the silver lining / Pain throws your heart to the ground / Love turns the whole thing around / No it won't all go the way it should / But I know the heart of life is good / Pain throws your heart to the ground / Love turns the whole thing around / Fear is a friend who's misunderstood / But I know the heart of life is good / I know it's good.

Most days, I know the heart of life is good, so good, and most days, that's enough to find good in it. Most days, pain, fear, sickness, and bad news are just the periphery. Most days, I know that at the heart of life exists love without condition, righteousness without qualification, natural beauty without blemish, justice without discrimination, goodness without the need for recompense, ingenuity and advancement without destruction, possibility without limit, and a future without bounds. Most days, I feel overwhelmed with gratitude and hope, love and awe.

I'm glad most of my days are most days, and I can be thankful for the some days that provide an acute reminder that I'm alive, that there is work to be done in this big, beautiful, broken world, and that because I can see the need for change, I can take part in creating it. 

Ghandi is still right: "You must be the change you wish to see in the world."  So I shall be.