Imagine there's just sadness...

This song keeps popping up on my Pandora station. Read it through because I'm about to tear it apart.

Imagine by John Lennon

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

I love the tune. I think it's a beautiful song in many ways. I understand the desire to bring people together and to allow them to recognize that maybe their differences aren't different enough to be doing the damage they are doing to one another. But something about the song, even the tune I love, is so melancholy. I'd like to go through some of the lyrics and express my thoughts on why they are so sad.

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
It is easy... way too easy. I wouldn't say I've "tried" but I have imagined that, in a doubt filled, sad moment with the question, "What if I'm wrong?" laying there on my tongue like a jalapeño pepper just waiting to burn and hurt and destroy and linger... I don't think I'm abnormal. I think many, if not all, people of faith have had to ask themselves the question from the point of view that was not their own. It's easy to doubt. Try believing... it takes more effort.

Imagine all the people
Living for today
Well this is a fine statement... that is unless today completely sucks! Life is hard. Living only for today would not be enough to produce enough smiles to fill a pickle jar.

Nothing to kill or die for
If there was nothing worth dying for, I kind of imagine there would be very little important enough to really live for.

Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
The parts of this song I agree with are the parts about no countries, no hatred for each other, etc. But even if that were the case, and there were peace among people, I would not feel peace believing that once I left that peaceful world, I was just gone. I can imagine a million Grand Canyons placed on top of each other and a thousand black holes stacked together (not sure how black holes stack, scientifically speaking) and that would be close to the chasm of empty that would need to be filled inside of me to come anywhere near peace if I did not have faith in more than what is here on earth. I like earth life. I like LIFE so much I want it to continue past my granite slab depicting mortal years between July 26, 1983 and September 4, 2067.

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us

I would not say you are a dreamer. If I did not have a degree in English I would say you are a nightmare-er, but I know that's not a word. Faith is sometimes so wonderful it feels like a dream, but the great thing is that it's not. I'm not the only one who believes that either. We hope you'll join us. Life is much more when there is faith involved.

And the world will live as one
I'm all for the world living as one. The thing about that is though, that we will also die as one. Death happens to all of us. But there was a man who came, who was able to overcome it, and because of him you will too.

That's all I wanted to say.