todays inspiration: Bob Dylan's 'Blowin in the Wind'

On my bus ride back from my friend's house, this song came on my mp3 player, and i started crying, literally...in public and without shame because i knew my tears were deserved and needed, and should be thought of by more...:

How many roads most a man walk down

Before you call him a man ?

How many seas must a white dove sail

Before she sleeps in the sand ?

Yes, how many times must the cannon balls fly

Before they're forever banned ?

The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind

The answer is blowin' in the wind.

Yes, how many years can a mountain exist

Before it's washed to the sea ?

Yes, how many years can some people exist

Before they're allowed to be free ?

Yes, how many times can a man turn his head

Pretending he just doesn't see ?

The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind

The answer is blowin' in the wind.

Yes, how many times must a man look up

Before he can see the sky ?

Yes, how many ears must one man have

Before he can hear people cry ?

Yes, how many deaths will it take till he knows

That too many people have died ?

The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind

The answer is blowin' in the wind

whoever is reading this may or may not like Bob Dylan; however, regardless of your feelings toward his music, you cannot deny that he is making a very valid and perceptive point with his lyrics.

i started crying because as i was listening, i was watching as well...the people on the bus, walking the streets, living on the streets. people that see a good deed see it almost as an act of heroism. but why? a good deed nowadays could be giving money to someone less fortunate, when all that should be seen as, is common human decency. is decency dead? from what I've seen, it is.

people walk around with their faces to the ground, hoping to pass through without being noticed, without having to notice anyone. if we could all just lift our faces, and smile at the face walking by, we could change the world. it sounds too small a thing to make such a drastic change, however i believe in the power of love, and a smile could show enough love passing between two strangers, and that smile could be passed on to the next person that they pass, and so on. a smile could mean life or death to some...if they have no love, a smile could really do that much.

i understand, especially with the economy the way it is right now, that helping your fellow man monetarily could prove difficult. but if you see someone living on the street, trudging from one trash can to another, noticing that they probably haven't eaten in 3 days...what is 5 dollars less? how you can you turn your back, knowing that you could spend 5 dollars, the price of your regular Starbucks coffee, buying them a burger or some other type of sustenance...carry a Pb&j with you and give it to someone who needs it. without this common human decency, we're turning our backs on people starving, possibly dying...

hypothetical situation: you are walking down a street and you see someone lying on the ground, bleeding, dying, asking for help. will you walk by them and turn your head, or call an ambulance...stay with them until help arrives? of course, you would do the later because, even though it is not your fault that they are bleeding and dying, if you walk away, you will have assisted in the murder of another human being. it is the same difference if you walk past someone asking your help to eat...if you walk away, whether or not this person is dying of malnutrition or is just hungry, you're turning your back on a human life, shunning his existence.

"Yes, how many times can a man turn his head, pretending he just doesn't see." this is happening all around us...people seeing, but not changing what they see.

can you remember as a little kid, the trust you had? the hope and the belief that all people were good, and decent and helped each other? that there was good, and there was evil, but that evil did not exist on the earth, evil was the devil or your own religious equal to that fictitious being (not that religion has anything to do with this). but now, you trust no one, save your family and the friends you've had for years, and there is the hope in the goodness of humanity, but no longer any belief. the knowledge that good and evil do exist, but they exist in us-the choices that we make. as children, we would choose the good, because evil would never enter into our thoughts....mischief, yes, but never any wrongful deeds that would purposefully hurt another. now, the area is more grey...and we don't know that turning our heads is wrong and hurts, and kills. it is normally never to purposefully hurt someone else, but we need to know that it does.

"Yes, how many ears must one man have, before he can hear people cry?" all we have to do is notice that people are suffering all around us, and do our best to help. if you do not feel comfortable giving people money, don't. buy them food, or a jacket if it's cold. whatever happened to 'giving the shirt off your back' anyway?

i even notice friends now. if one is down and needs to talk to someone, even if they don't want to talk, they just want someone there, will there always be someone who will drop whatever they are doing and rush to their side, no matter what it takes? unfortunately, this is not always the case anymore, in fact, it is rarely the case anymore. I'm not judging or lecturing, I'm just wondering why a movie or game, or shopping, or any of those types of activities are more important than a friend's tears.

if we helped each other in more ways, we could change the world. save the world from ourselves, save the world from the destruction and obliteration of common human decency.