At this time of year John Lennon’s “Happy Christmas: War is
Over” is played over and over again on Christmas radio stations and stores
music systems. That song gets under my
skin every time I hear it with its opening lyrics.
“So this is Christmas, and what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun.”
Next thing you know Yoko Ono and the Harlem Children’s choir pleads how war is over if you want it while Lennon almost sarcastically begins to wish everyone a Merry Christmas knowing of all of the conflict that was/still is going on in the world that makes it a lousy Christmas for a lot of people. I always feel a little guilty when I hear the Lennon version of the song because this one is a taunt on my soul. It reminds me that I’ve done a lousy job trying to make the world a better place from the previous year and especially this year since I had an idea that might bring about world peace.
Unfortunately, I sat on it and never published it.
However, before I go into how my idea may have brought about
world peace allow me to talk about a show on the Curiosity Streaming network
called “Connections with James Burke.”
James Burke connects two random things such as the potato to an
unlimited source of green energy in the future.
(and no, James Burke was not advocating everyone plug their Alexa
devices into a potato ala potato clock from your grammar school science class.)
The connections are as follows: the Incas cultivated the potato to feed their
growing empire. Spanish conquistadors took the potato to Europe where eventually Queen
Marie Antoinette tried to end hunger in France by encouraging people to grow it and eat it. Contrary to the
myth of her being an insensitive 1% er Marie Antoinette gave frequently to
charity and also successfully managed to get a divorce (a rather impossible
thing especially in a heavy Catholic country like France was at the time of the
French Revolution) for badly battered Princess Louise de Stolberg from husband Bonnie
Prince Charlie of Scotland. At the time
of the divorce Bonnie Prince Charlie was a raging alcoholic in exile in Rome
alongside other Jacobites after he lost his attempt to take over the British
throne. Then fellow Jacobite exile James
Byers would discover in Rome an ancient blue and white vase that would in turn
inspire Josiah Wedgewood to come up with his famous patterns. The head of Wedgewood’s European division
William Nicholson dissected an electric ray where he discovers a group of flat
gelatinous cells that he surmises is the organ that produces the ray’s electrical
shock. Nicholson’s electric ray’s anatomical
drawings inspire Alessadro Volta to create the world 1st battery. Then an Italian professor named Romangnosi
discovers a compass needle goes haywire when he waves a battery in front of it
meaning electricity can be found in the air.
Professor Dr. Carl Ludwig Barron von Reichenbach expands upon Romangnosi
to discover an electrical substance called od that most scientists view as
complete hokum. However, Reichenbach also discovered a substance in coal tar
named Naptha that Charles Mackintosh used to liquidize rubber to be applied to
the first raincoat. Then Mackintosh
needed the help of rubber expert Thomas Hancock to make enough liquid rubber to
keep up with the raincoat demand. Meanwhile
Thomas Hancock’s brother Charles was mashing up other rubbers to create the rubber
shielding around the transatlantic telegraph cable. The
chief engineer for the company laying down the transatlantic cable Wiloughby
Smith notices when light hits the selenium he is using to test the cable it also
gives off electricity thereby discovering the first photoelectric
substance. Then a German minerologist
discovers another photoelectric substance he dubs perovskite after fellow
minerologist Lev Perovski. And perovskite
may be what we spray on solar cells to give us energy in the future.
I was always amazed at the way Burke could connect these wild
and random dots to reveal something incredible.
And the reason why I bring this up is because awhile back I wrote about
how a series of seemingly random events connected in my brain for what I
thought would be the greatest idea ever.
Except I never published it. And yes, it has a definite connection to John
Lennon.
So, back to why I think I’m being haunted by John Lennon and
my series of connections that happened in my brain that I sat on.
The original blogpost I never published was
titled “Thank you Random Universe for giving me inspiration for perhaps my
Ultimate Radom thought. Give Peace a
Chance” . I meant it to be published on or shortly after the date of October
17th, 2023. I began to go on
about how I failed to fast on October 17th, 2023. Pope Francis’ commanded every Catholic to fast
on that day to try to bring about peace in the Middle East. This latest Papal command to fast was brought
about by the latest attack by Hamas when they dropped into that Israeli
Lollapalooza concert on October 7th, 2023, and began to kill
hundreds of people taking several more hostage.
This naturally brought about a response from Israel with Israel probably
killing more Palestinians than Hamas has killed of Israelis at this point. I really didn’t want to ponder that day what
seems like a hopeless never ending tragic conflict. So, instead on that October 17th,
2023, I ended up watching the latest “Tasting History with Max Miller” on
YouTube to try to get my mind off of the horror. Max Miller’s “Tasting History” reminds me a
bit of Alton Brown “Good Eats” tv show back when the Food Network showed you
how to cook food instead of having foodie themed game shows where average cooks
compete to figure out how to best combine Brussel sprouts with Kellogg’s Pop
Tarts in a way that is pleasing to the pallet of your average preschooler and a
panel of James Beard award winning pastry chefs at the same time. The “Tasting History” episode that premiered
on YouTube on October 17th, 2023, featured the history of Vienna’s
famous Sacher torte. The one weird
random factoid Miller mentioned in the video was how the Sacher torte was
offered as a lure to get John Lennon & Yoko Ono out of the bag they were
staying in inside hotel Sacher in Vienna.
This in turn reminded me of the various bed-in’s Lennon had
for peace during the Vietnam war and how during one of those bed-ins he wrote
the ultimate ode to peace “Give Peace a chance”. After reviewing the lyrics, I realized
Lennon just decided to string together random words/thoughts. Then again, it’s amazing that he came up with
an amazing and generationally relevant song on the fly like that with a crowd
of about 100+ people in a 750 sq ft room after doing whatever Timothy Leary no
doubt dropped in his tea with only two guitars and some tambourines.[i]
It was then I came up with a potential viral video. The idea is everyone take a moment to record
themselves singing just the chorus of John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance” and
then spread it on social media. Maybe
Yoko Ono wouldn’t object and allow her copyright claims to slide if someone
decided to update the lyrics to reflect the current state of conflict in the
world but kept Lennon’s simple melody.
John Lennon put into words humanity’s ultimate prayer in a time of
intense conflict- Please give peace a chance. The world wants peace but let’s face it, as
long as there are a few hardhearted hate mongers in key positions in the world
the chance of peace coming may not work until we cry louder than that hate and
rage to just give peace a chance.
Except I never published that blog post.
I think what intimidated me the most was the fact that I
would be exposing myself more to the public than perhaps I was emotionally
ready for. So, I let that blogpost sit
on my laptop to the point it’s no longer timely making it now irrelevant.
But maybe it’s not too late.
This is still the season of peace.
This is the time of year when we are to welcome into our hearts the
newborn Prince of Peace. Maybe, if I, like
a pebble, put this out into the world wide web it will resound so this
Christmas maybe will be better this year.
So here I go.
[i] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3_0GqPvr4U.
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