Nella Fantasia

I visited with an old friend the other day. He was lamenting the loss of peace in the world and not just in faraway places. The peace that once was the charm of a section of his home city, where he and his wife could stroll at a leisurely pace and then duck into a charming boutique if it started to rain or on sunny days, sit together at the table of a sidewalk café and nibble on fresh baked pastries while watching people walk happily by…that peace, that security was replaced by riotous pandemonium. Hateful students chanting hateful slogans and forcing good folks to leave and stores to close their doors, took over their happy places. The places became dirty and an aura of discontent, chaos and gloom was now the tone of the area.

He said he had taken to reading and re-reading the Bible for comfort and consolation. I agreed with the idea and determined to take on my own study.  And then, just today I read a quote by Thomas S. Monson:

“Out of Nazareth and down through the generations of time come His excellent example, His welcome words, His divine deeds.

They inspire patience to endure affliction, strength to bear grief, courage to face death, and confidence to meet life. In this world of chaos, of trial, of uncertainty, never has our need for such divine guidance been more desperate.

Lessons from Nazareth, Capernaum, Jerusalem, Galilee transcend the barriers of distance, the passage of time, the limits of understanding, and bring to troubled hearts a light and a way.”

From deep in the back of my mind a song, one of my favorites was pushing through the despair I had felt and now accompanied the hope I was experiencing instead.

Nella fantasia io vedo un mondo giusto

Li tutti vivono in pace e in onestà

Io sogno d'anime che sono sempre libere

Come le nuvole che volano

Pien' d'umanità in fondo all'anima

It is such a beautiful song when preformed in Italian by the group Amici Forever written by Chiara Ferrau and the incredible Ennio Morricone for the movie “The Mission”.

The translation shows how perfect it is for what I am wishing for now…

In my imagination (nella fantasia) I see a fair world,

Everyone lives in peace and in honesty there.

I dream of souls that are always free,

Like the clouds that fly,

Full of humanity in the depths of the soul.

In my imagination I see a bright world,

Even the night is less dark there.

I dream of souls that are always free,

Like clouds that fly.

In my imagination there exists a warm wind,

That breathes on the cities, like a friend.

I dream of souls that are always free,

Like clouds that fly,

Full of humanity in the depths of the soul.

I was born in post war America. The country was putting itself back together. Patriotism, security, peace and family were foremost in everyone’s mind. Those who had tasted the bitterness of a world at war worked hard to establish peace. Oh that we could only have a fair world where everyone lives in peace and in honesty today. What can I do?  What can we do?

 The Dalai Lama is quoted as saying: “The Planet does not need more successful people, the planet desperately needs more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers and lovers of all kind."

And we only need to look as far as John Lennon who takes it it a step further by saying “Peace is not something you wish for; it’s something you make, something you do, something you are and something you give away".

That I can do. I'll start by sharing this beautiful and peaceful song....