I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing BUT I AIN'T GONNA BUY A PIG IN A POKE

I'd like to teach the world to sing

CLICK

I'd like to build the world a home

And furnish it with love

Grow apple trees and honey bees

And snow white turtle doves

I'd like to teach the world to sing

In perfect harmony

I'd like to hold it in my arms

And keep it company

I'd like to see the world for once

All standing hand in hand

And hear them echo through the hills

For peace through out the land

(That's the song I hear)

Songwriters
B. BACKER, B. DAVIS, R. COOK, R. GREENAWAY

Published by
Lyrics © SONY ATV MUSIC PUB LLC

Read more: New Seekers - I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing Lyrics | MetroLyrics 

I really would like to see the world for once all standing hand in hand, and peace throughout the land.

My soul cries out for it.

Yet the words of one of our Characters haunt me. 

The following is from Mamm of Dunnottar, right before the Battle at the Frigidus River.

Her Voice sounds hollow and the two men turn to look first at one another and then at Joan.

Davidson speaks quietly.

‘Joan, what see you? Can you tell us?’

‘Death. I see death, Davidson. Death and mourning. I see great wrath unleashed, and the Mercy of the Mother. Victory yes but at what price; Davidson my husband, what price are we willing to pay for a Peace that will be long in coming?’

The hollow Voice goes silent and again the three stand looking out over the fires of their people.

And so it was, so it is, so it will continue to be until that Peace really does come at long last.

Although my soul does cry out for Peace throughout the land, the echoes of battle drum in the background.

'What price are we willing to pay for a Peace that will be long in coming?'

Joan's hollow haunting Voice goes silent, but my heart hears still her words.

We in the United States do have a Peace. Restless and imperfect though it may be it is yet Peace.

War is upon the face of our world, folks. There's no sense in trying to deny it - it has never left us and isn't likely to evaporate any time soon.

Some time ago now I sent out a plea regarding Syria - the plea was to get the civilians out of there, the innocents, because they in no way deserve what their lives have brought upon them. They do not deserve to have to pay the price for the atrocities committed by the bratty children of our world.

And so ... many of them are far from their homes now ... not Syrians only but many others also impacted by the mis-deeds of the rotten brats among us.

Meanwhile, we in the United States and other places have a relative Peace.

Can we not share our Peace? 

Can we not ENFORCE that Peace, here of all places, in order to provide a sanctuary for those in dire need of Peace while maintaining our own security?

I'm pretty sure we can. 

Whether or not we, as a People, are willing to even give it a try is the question.

And now I'm going to go into one of my "What If" things, just so you can decide if you want to read through the whole thing or skip to the conclusion or click out of here.

While we would dearly love for our whole world to be at Peace, that Peace may well be long in coming. 

We've got that 'meanwhile' time to contend with and we are divided as to how best to get our world through it.

Like it or not, accept it or not, approve of it or not, the struggle we're currently engaged in is probably going to feel like child's play coming up pretty soon here.

Our Warriors will do what Warriors do because it needs to be done. I have a feeling the 'No More Mister Nice Guy' mode is going to kick into high gear right quick as escalation seems to be on the upswing. But that's for our Warriors to deal with. 

I'm a civilian and chances are so are you.

Because this is my own blog and because I'm a US citizen and because I write fiction I can and I will play "What If" here to my heart's content. Nobody's making anybody read anything so cope as best you can.

The Middle East is going to erupt in a big way. Russia, China, Europe, North America, Israel ... Warriors all ... have that to contend with.

We as civilians in relatively Peaceful Places have our own part to play. We support our Warriors and provide for them. That's one thing. We also have a lot of other civilians who might could maybe use some support and provisions right about now and most assuredly in the coming time.

So we have some choices on our horizons, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

We can help those who need our help - without jeopardizing our own security.

How?

To begin with, it seems to be the young males who are making us all nervous. Times being what they are (and me being just a little old gramma lady that nobody pays any attention to anyhow so I can say what I want) there's no reason to be particularly 'reasonable' about stuff. If those men of fighting age want their families to be taken in by whatever country, they can darned well don the uniforms of said countries, be thoroughly assessed by our military personnel (who are quite capable at such things I hear), and get busy making themselves useful in a fight that they have a vested interest in. That keeps them out of our civilian hair and under the close guard of our Warriors (in case they might get a wild hair, you know, and think they can get away with murder, our Warriors can and will nip that in the bud).

Women, children, and elders will be left. 

Because we're extremely leery (and somewhat paranoid it must be admitted) right now, we civilians, it might be wisdom to not try to foist innocent people on populations who are not yet ready to accept them graciously. 

It's not that we're naturally ungracious or unfeeling or lacking in compassion.

It's that our survival instincts are kicking in.

One way to help alleviate our apprehensions at least a little is to prove to us that we are not buying pigs in pokes. Keep all newcomers secured in none of our States until we've had time to adjust to their presence. How are we going to do that? Washington D.C. is not one of the several States of the United States of America.

Yes I do realize how that sounds.

If individual States want to invite X number of people, they'd best clear it with their OWN people first, and make it strictly understood that there will be zero tolerance for violence of any kind no matter which side of the story you're telling. ZERO TOLERANCE means 'one strike and you're out'.

And how the heck exactly are we going to enforce any such thing when we can't manage to enforce stuff we're already supposed to be enforcing?

Ah.

Well.

You see, here in the United States we really do have such a thing as a Second Amendment.

Read it.

It might be a bit different in content than you'd expect.

As a result, we have an armed citizenry. 

We also have the National Guard.

Now do NOT misinterpret me here, I warn you.

I am in no way advocating people just up and shooting whoever they want whenever they want for whatever reason strikes their fancy at the time. People are already doing that, for heaven's sake. It's stupid and counterproductive.

No.

All I'm saying is that we could, if we so desired, which we do not, on a community level, enforce that zero tolerance thing.

Realistically speaking, the mere knowledge of its existence would probably be enough to keep things stable.

Come to think of it, refugees aside for the moment, it might maybe be a good thing to actually put into effect since it's already supposed to be.

Relating back to our concerns about our own security, there are more than a whole lot of people who would love nothing more than to have the brats show their faces, yep. 

Among us are those who will never reconcile themselves to having 'outsiders in our midst'. I do not happen to agree with the totality of their stance but I do happen to totally agree with their right to said stance. And, being as I'm INFJ/P, honestly and truly I am kind of glad to know that they are among us and that they are many.

Is that a contradiction?

Perhaps.

On the other hand I have to admit to having a degree of realism - to kind of balance out the idealism that wants to teach the world to sing, you know.

I can sing to my heart's content, and plead for compassion and for mercy until I'm blue in the face, folks - and I do, believe me I do - 

But when push comes to shove, and it will, this little old gramma lady is going to shut up with the singing, pick up a damn bell, and start ringing it. That's if it doesn't start in ringing all on its own first.

And you know what I hope?

I hope that when the time for bell-ringing gets here I will be standing smack in the middle of a whole bunch of people who are very different from me. 

I really do.

Because when that time gets here it isn't going to matter a whit that we're all different from one another.

We'll all be singing the same Song and it will be a Battle Song right there at first, indeed it will.

Because really, are we going to just sit around on our hands while these pesky nasty little brats of humanity do harm to first their own and then to us and ours?

No.

Do you really think that our new neighbors, those refugees we're so all-fired worried about, are going to sit around on their hands and do nothing?

Are you kidding me?

They have already done something.

They have taken their own stand against what we're all going to have to stand against. They've gone on ahead of us and taken their own steps, and harsh steps they've been for these folks.

I am not talking about the trouble-makers among them. Those brats of humanity will find refuge no-place except possibly back among those who have spawned them, and that refuge will be short-lived.

Bottom line?

We want a Peaceful World, we are ready willing and able to help those who need help, but really ...

WE ARE NOT GOING TO BUY A PIG IN A POKE.

If by chance anyone is thinking about maybe taking offense at the pig in a poke reference, guess what.

I am an American, a Christian, and am fond of pork because it tastes good and is healthy for me. Nobody's saying you have to eat it. Matter of fact, if it doesn't suit your fancy that's fine by me - leaves more for the rest of us.