John Lennon, Where Are You?

By Dr. Steven Farmer

I seem to find myself overwhelmed by the continual reporting of bad news, tragedies and the details and analyses over and over again that I have started to ignore much of it. As I contemplate the perpetual bombardment, somewhat surprisingly John Lennon’s song Imagine comes to mind, in particular this verse:

Can you imagine this? Is it hard to do? Or do you scoff and think that it’s just the vision of a crazy idealistic dreamer who was preoccupied with love and peace, spouting notions that are naïve and simplistic? There’s definitely a part of me that would like to see us all hold hands and sing peace songs with the hope that the power generated would overcome war, killing, greed, etc. Given the onslaught of depressing news these days, it takes a sort of blind innocence to even consider these possibilities.

As much as I love this song (as I do most of Lennon’s work) and the sentiments it expresses, there still resides in me a part that is quite cynical and at times despondent of our human nature. Though I choose not to dwell on these thoughts, I confess that there are times when these thoughts and feelings overtake me. To shake them off, I will play my guitar, go outside, or seek out my wife Jesseca for a hug and a few moments of solace and comfort that any of these can afford.

I’m reminded of a Cherokee Legend of which you may be familiar. Yet it is always worth recounting, particularly now. This version is closer to the original and is called “Grandfather Tells,” also known as “The Wolves Within.” It goes like this:

So which one will you feed?