Linus walks his world clutching his little blue blanket. While Lucy is a hard fisted feminist-before-her-time, her little brother Linus is more like Charlie Brown. Just plain scared at what the next turned-corner might bring. Louie Armstrong, on the other and happier hand, sings the classic WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD with a throaty juiciness that makes you feel every corner out there is going to be worth turning!
Today's helter-skelter world has a lot of Linus' in it. I mean, what's not to be afraid of...! But then you listen to Louie sing lines like, "I see trees of green/red roses too/I see em bloom/for me and for you," and how can you not feel kinda good and smiley?
Here's the point to take home.
The world is more than comic characters and jazz singers. Still, the arts do reflect life. Linus' fears are our fears; Louie's hope are what we would like to be our hopes. Fears come easily. Hopes take a little more work. Without fear we might travel life unguarded; but without hope, we could barely make the trip at all. No surprise here -- once again the world instructs us to find the proper balance.
Billions of us travelers go to bed at night scared of something. An attack...an arrest....too little food....too much government...not finding a job....not keeping the job you have...disease...death. The fears are real enough. Which is why so many tug that little blue blanket high over the head and pray a deep sleep will soon overtake them.
But even the peace of a dreamless sleep must eventually greet the dawn. That's when hope begins again. Enough at least to crawl out from under that blanket. That sleep. That escape. Now it's Louie's turn. With his kinda hope: "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."
You are permitted to laugh a little at Linus.! However, please, you are required to listen a lot to Louie!
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