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 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 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
Other than the anti-religion the rest of the song has so much truth. Not only I but, many philosophers who are atheists, also believe that religion inherantly teaches and preaches peace. People have abused religion, and distorted the love, peace, compassion, toleration that religion has given to the world and made religion a cause for war, injustice, and cruelty; whereas toleration, peace and compassion has been taught by religion. It is we who are to blame for the wars and terrorism, as religion preaches this not. People have died in the past and people are dying because their "hearts have become hard" [Prophet Muhammad SAW stated this] because the love and mercy has left their hearts. Prophet Jesus [May Peace be Upon Him] was commanded by God to sit with those who had Love in their hearts, and, Prophet Moses [May Peace Be Upon Him] was also commanded by God to go out searching for the Beloved of God, that Person who Loves and knows the True meaning of Love. Buddhism teaches Karama, if you do evil- evil will be done to you, if you do good, good will be done to you, it teaches to love all of creation and to find inner peace. This is what all the religions of the world preach, to love all is inner peace. God the Almighty states: God would say on the Day of Judgment: “Where are those who love each other for the sake of My glory? Today I will shelter them with My shade, as there is no shade today except My shade”. Loving each other is therefore a prerequisite for the world to run.
Superpowers come and go, rulers live and die, regimes are built and toppled; the hegemony that always survives is that of love and compassion. The world has forgotten the True principles of life, living and freedom. How can someone living in the First World feel free when his Brother or Sister (all Children of the Prophet Adam and his wife Eve [May Peace Be Upon Both of Them]) is suffering from poverty, malnutrition, hunger, drought, corrupt unjust rulers, exploitation and so on. Over 2 Billion people in the world are without food, clean water and sufficient shelter - forget having a bed, electricity, gas, radiators, fridges etc; all of which those living in the First World cannot live without. If we were to sleep in the middle of winter without our warm radiators, gas to cook our food, microwaves to warm our food, electricity to charge our phones, laptops, use the internet, to power our light bulbs... We would not be able to survive. Yet, we somehow have forgotten that the world resources are finite and finishing within our lifetime. This may sound soppy, but, the truth is the truth, and we must face to these facts.
If all the countries in the world were True Democracies, there would be no poverty, no child would sleep hungry, no mother would die during child birth, no father would be shot defending his home from occupying armies, no daughter would be raped as something men because they can and no son would become angry seeing all of this happen to his family and join a terrorist organisation. Then the money that First World countries give in aid to poverty stricken countries would make a difference and will actually bring change, rather than what is currently happening, where billions of dollars are given to enrich dictators and corrupt regimes.
But, if this happened, then how will we buy our iPhones, laptops, cutlery, lamps, clothes and majority of products we consume in the First World, not only that, but majority of our food is also grown in these Third World poverty stricken countries. These people slave all day growing and harvesting the food we eat and take for granted, earn half a penny; which cannot buy them anything that they have grown. We waste so much food, especially the manufacturing companies that package the food, where they throw away anything that is not correctly labelled or packed. We waste so much, because we have things to waste, whereas, those who have very little in the world, waste nothing because they do not know when their next meal will be. How tough would life be, if we didn't know when we will receive our next meal, yet we work all day to earn money for that food, but, but at the end of the day we earn half a cent, not enough to buy wheat to eat cold wheat soup, because we don't have a supply for a gas line for a fire? Life is pointless, if we follow the same monotonous pattern everyday, and we cannot change the life of one person in the Third World in our life time. What is the purpose of life if we cannot do that? Is life all about the endless parties, drunken nights, unplanned pregnancies, 9-5 jobs, and on and on the list goes? It's better to do something than nothing. You could change one life because of the 5 euros you gave to someone standing on the corner of a sidewalk with a charity bucket in her hand.
"No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world..."
No child would die because the mother suffers from malnutrition and cannot produce milk for her child, and has no resources to buy formula, something which the First World countries take for granted. Imagine, a mother knowing her child will not survive the next day, imagine her pain. Imagine what it would be like if you could not feed your child, the child is screaming and crying in hunger, and the mother silent from her incapacity to do anything, she tries to silence the child by giving her tongue to be sucked on, but there is no saliva as the mother has not drunk water for many days. What would your state be? Imagine, your state, as you watch helplessly the child you carried for 9 months through hardships, die slowly, ever so slowly, right before your very eyes. And you cannot do anything.Imagine, the pain. Now, the mother has buried her child with her own hands, she cries not, because even if she did cry, tears would not form because there is no water in her body, she remains silent for the rest of her life, because the pain is too much to bear. She sits among other mothers with children, but her mind is someplace away, as her pain has killed her inside, she sees, she hears, but nothing is processed. Nothing means anything. When you can live, but the innocent child who came in this world knowing nothing but the mother that carried it for 9 months, did not and cannot do anything, and the child died knowing that the one he depended upon let him suffer. Not forgetting the father in this whole equation, he sees, the life slowly fade away from his child's life, he sees his wife in pain in trying to provide for their child, he is completely helpless. He leaves the home, in hope to find as much work as possible to earn some money to buy some formula for his child. But, with no luck. He can only do so much in the intense heat, he is exhausted, he hasn't eaten for weeks, but he still pushes himself some more. But, to no avail, he opens his hands out to the owner, and receives cobbles for the hard strenuous work he has put through. He knows it's not enough to provide anything for his family, in angst he runs to the store in time before sale day ends, to try and seek even an ounce of formula, but, the shopkeeper does not sell to him. Even after he pleads, begs and explains the situation. But, the shopkeeper has his own money trouble as he has to pay back the loans he took to buy the shop and products. The cycle is never ending. The father comes back home, and sees even less life in his child, he looks over to his wife as she sobs silently. No mother nor father, should have to go through that. This scenario happens and has happened to millions across the globe.
What have you done to help at least one person be alleviated from this pain? Actually, the question that should be asked is, what have we done to help alleviate the world from poverty? If the answer is nothing substantial, then the next question is, what will do to make a difference, so when we go into the grave, as that is the promise everyone fulfills, will we go satisfied that we have completely changed at least one person's life around, or will we go satisfied into the grave because of the selfish life we lived?
If everyone changes at least one person's life, then world poverty would end, without a doubt.
