“I hear babies cry, I watch them grow.
You know they’re gonna learn,
a whole lot more than I’ll ever know.
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.
Yes, I think to myself, what a wonderful world.”
(“What a Wonderful World” – Louis Armstrong – Thiele/Weiss – 1968)
Last night, I went to sleep watching images, from thousands of miles away, of a man hugging his young sons and wife after having been rescued from 70 days trapped in a rocky tomb. This morning, similar images flashed across the screen, as men that were thought dead emerged from the Earth, back to the loving arms of their families and their country, and the world united in joy at their safe return to this wonderful world.
This wonderful world – to read through pages of blogs on numerous websites, both left and right, you would think that life in this world is about to collapse in ruin, the blame assigned, of course, to the other side.
There is no doubt that this world of ours has issues to address, from economic stagnation to war, famine and a lack of human rights. There is no doubt, also, that this world has faced far worse in the recent past, genocide and world war, depression and the displacement of millions throughout the world.
In my little world, there are issues to address, just as there is in the world at large. There is never enough money, of course, our health could always be a bit better and the tank still needs to be filled if I want to drive. That is life, but there are still the smiles of my grandchildren and the love of my dog and cats to smooth the road. There are hugs to share with my children and my friends and the wonder of the natural world that I love to capture in photographs.
The looks on the faces of the rescued miners, their families and the rescue teams tell all that this is truly a wonderful world – a world that we inhabit with some that share our views and some that are vehemently opposed to us. The Chilean people and their international neighbors managed to set aside differences to united to save the lives of 33 brave and determined friends.
Perhaps, we can learn a desperately needed lesson from the events on the desolate landscape of the Atacama Desert, regardless of our perceived view, we still live in a wonderful world.
William Stephenson Clark
PrairiePopulistsAndProgressives.net 
“Given a choice between two theories, take the one which is funnier.” — Blore’s Razor
Yep! Laugh, as often as possible, at yourself, with others, because it’s always the best choice.
Life is always better than what we complain about.
The unexpected hug we receive from a stranger, the sound of laughter from the other room, the sunrise and sunset we are privy to view each day—all these and many many more little surprises each day speak to the beautify of life and the cheers from the Chilean people speaks to the strength of the human spirit and the kindness of strangers. Isn’t it great to see humans from all nations and all walks of life working together to do great things!
I watched Marlo Thomas on a recent interview about the new book she has written – Growing Up Laughing (I think that’s the title).
Anyway – she made the remark that if she is with a group that is not laughing and she hears another group somewhere laughing – she wants to go join that group.
I think laughter is a great gift to humans and one that is not appreciated as it should be. Laughter releases stress, forms a bond between people if they can see one another laughing and it brings such a feeling of joy.
And if there is one thing this world needs right now – it is more joy.
I’m tired of the bullying, mean, rude and downright hateful crap that is going on today. I admit I can get down into the rude and hateful ditch myself but it is usually when talking about politics.
I often ask these Religious Right Republicans why they want to mix their religion and politics because I place much more value on religion than I do my politics.
Shouldn’t one’s religious beliefs be held on a higher level than to muddy them with politics?
Speaking of mixing religion and politics – did anyone else see the documentary last night on PBS about God in America?
It was very good – it gave an interesting historical account of how religion has evolved in our country.
After suffering a bout of severe depression, I found that I love to laugh. I will choose laughter over tears whenever my will allows. I choose to laugh at inappropriate times and at inappropriate things because I would rather laugh than cry or be angry or (definitely) be depressed.
After living with an alcoholic for 14 years, I learned not to sweat the small things and that, unless it will negatively impact the rest of your life, it’s a small thing. And I learned that the only person whose behavior or actions we can control are our own. I think that the world would be a much better place if everyone would adopt these two rules as tenets of their religion.
My grandpa used to tell us kids to find something to laugh about every day and to be thankful we have that ability.
My grandpa was not a wealthy man and not a particularly ‘religious’ man but he was content in what he had and he tried to find the good around him whenever times got hard.
I wish more people had that attitude towards life.