From a Distance

When I read the Stream of Consciousness prompt for today — the word “distance” — this song is the first thing that came to mind.

I have a love-hate relationship with the lyrics. Allow me to — stream-of-consciously — dissect them.

On the surface, yes, it’s all so true:

From a distance, the world looks blue and green
And the snow-capped mountains white
From a distance, the ocean meets the stream

Yep — those pictures taken of the earth from space show our planet as green and blue. We can see water, land. We have to start zooming in, though, to see ocean meeting stream. We have to really zoom in to see the last line of that verse:

And the eagle takes to flight

If we were to really really zoom in, we would see that eagle swoop down and grab a living creature — a fish, a rabbit, or even someone’s pet. Hmmm…

From a distance, there is harmony
And it echoes through the land
It’s the voice of hope
It’s the voice of peace
It’s the voice of every man

Well, not EVERY man. I’m so disturbed by the words of our Secretary of War/Defense this week. He initially acknowledged the fallen troops, but then they became a PR problem to him. He accused the press of trying to make the president look bad. Seriously??

From a distance, we all have enough
And no one is in need
And there are no guns, no bombs, and no disease
No hungry mouths to feed

From a distance, it may look that way, but it’s not true. It’s just not true.

From a distance, we are instruments
Marching in a common band
Playing songs of hope
Playing songs of peace
They’re the songs of every man

I actually like this verse. Music is a uniter. I think about the story from WWII of Germans and Americans singing Silent Night together, in their respective languages, on Christmas Eve. (I think that’s how the story goes.)

God is watching us
God is watching us
God is watching us
From a distance

Umm…. the Christmas story is that God was born in a stable. The Lenten story is that after a dusty, dirty itinerant life — walking with us, eating with us, teaching, listening, healing through touch — God in human form died for us. God bridged the distance.

From a distance, you look like my friend
Even though we are at war
From a distance, I just cannot comprehend
What all this fighting’s for

I’ll go back to that Christmas Eve story and I’ll say this, You, Iranian mom, are my sister. In 2017, I went to Bosnia and shared meals with people of a different faith. I learned they were also my friend/family. I’ll also go back to those powerful people in the world who move us around like chess pieces. I just cannot comprehend what all this fighting’s for.

The rest of the song is pretty repetitive of what’s already been sung.

It’s a lovely song. It really is.

I just wish it didn’t lean so heavily on God watching “from a distance”.

Perhaps it’s simply saying that God has the best perspective — “from a distance”. Hmm… I need to ponder that.