What a Wonderful World

Listen while you read:  https://youtu.be/F-3ox-6WhBA

I see trees of green, red roses, too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself, "What a wonderful world"

I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself, "What a wonderful world"

The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of the people going by
They're really saying "I love you"

I hear babies crying, I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll never know
And I think to myself, "What a wonderful world"

~  George David Weiss, Robert Thiele

If you were expecting to listen to Louis Armstrong, you will have to google it yourself. Although Armstrong's 1968 release is more well-known, I chose to include Joey Ramone's version of the song from his 2002 album, Don't Worry About Me, released almost a year after his death from lymphoma and one month shy of his 50th birthday. Ramone had seven years between diagnosis and death, time to be reflective and accepting of his fate. I think there's a certain beauty in his choice of this song to include on the album, knowing it would be his last.

And it is a wonderful world, isn't it? Well, it is if you put other things aside. Like war and poverty and politics and crime, stuff like that. For me, when I focus on the natural world, I am transported from my stress and worries of the political world. I would like to say that there is nothing political about the trees and roses and skies and clouds and rainbows, as mentioned in the song, but we do know that these beautiful gifts are threatened if we, as stewards of the Earth, do not take care of them. So that's political. I wonder if Joey Ramone was thinking of that?

I doubt it. My guess is that he was soaking in all the beauty he could before leaving this plane. And there's the lesson in this song. See the world. Observe its beauty. Take a walk. Be still. Be in awe. Unless you know something better to do? I don't.

This week will be full of sun and blue skies and girlfriends and beaches. What a wonderful world!