-^-for posterity-^-

we went to a town far away to eat a nice meal. we had to get away. the semester starts tomorrow and we all needed a break. the food was nice and the view was excellent.

the restaurant sat directly above the river with all of its traffic. the food came and the conversation flowed effortlessly like when you talk with friends. the music was playing and a song came on. it stuck me.

louis armstrong’s ‘it’s a wonderful world’ poured throughout the restaurant. his gravelly voice, the voice that sounds like it has passed through his ample soul and picked up bits and pieces of it along the way, came humming and flowing. i looked down at my plate and listened. it really was a wonderful world. i had more than i ever needed. i was fulfilling all of my dreams when i looked down. i took another bite of my pasta. how rich and creamy it was. i was warm, healthy and alive in so many ways.

as the song played, i turned my head and glanced out at the shacks that have been built all along the river. they stand out from the shore and are made of tin, plastic and bamboo. the words, ‘it’s a wonderful world’, rang in my ears. they sounded so hallow, even coming from the masterful louis. the world didn’t look so wonderful. the shacks were too rusted and too close. the boats that passed up the river were too old and the engines made too much noise. the man rowing his boat against the current in the sun didn’t look pleasant. it was a wonderful world, but only for me.

the ride home i kept looking at the river and watching the boats pass full of family members. i watched women cooking on the bows and children chasing dogs around the hulls. i kept humming, ‘it’s a wonderful world.’

another line stood out. something about, “when someone says hi to you, what do you do, they’re really saying ‘i love you.’” these people, while the world may not be entirely wonderful, still have each other. they have community and they have relationships. that may be more wonderful than any world i could conjure up.