Wayne is the author of four books and a practitioner of acupuncture, Chinese medicine and integrative medicine. He is the director and producer of "On the Path to Strawberry Fields."
Carole King and Gerry Goffin wrote the song"Up On The Roof"back in 1962. The Drifters made it a big hit that same year.
Other people also sang it, including Julie Grant, Kenny Lynch, Little Eva, Jimmy Justice, Richard Anthony, Laura Nyro, Ike and Tina Turner, Kenny Rankin, the Nylons, the Cover Girls, and Tuck and Patti.
Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band covered the song live in 1975 during their initial Born to Run tour. And James Taylor did a version that remains his last top 40 hit as a soloist.
I'm talking about the iconic "Up on the Roof," with lyrics that begin:
When this old world starts getting me down
And people are just too much for me to face
I climb way up to the top of the stairs
And all my cares just drift right into space
Right now for many of us, going up on the roof doesn't sound like a bad idea. This old world is getting a lot of us down, and for many people it is just too much to face. It would be a mighty fine feeling for all cares to just drift right off into space.
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I don't blame you for thinking that way. It's been a season of turbulence. We're seeing weather extremes — hurricanes, storms, severe heat, fires, floods, earthquakes and more — all within the context of the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report saying we are nearing a tipping point on climate change.
We're seeing the ravages of war, as the U.S. ends its engagement in Afghanistan.
We're seeing a pandemic that seemingly has no end.
And we're seeing people at each other's throats, ready to seemingly kill one another over these and many other issues that divide us as Americans.
Can we find our way? Or is the only answer to go up on the roof?
We are warring among ourselves, and ultimately, we are warring with our own psyches, stuck in an endless cycle of anger, fear, hate, greed, selfishness, loneliness, fragmentation, trauma, abuse, addiction and more.
We need to love more, and be loved more. We need to be heard, and hear others. We need to care for others, and be cared for. We need to give more to others, without asking for anything in return. We need to appreciate our differences. And we need to slow down.
Furthermore, it can't be all about money and power over others. We must find the balance between materialism and the public good; i.e. the water, the air, the forests, and all other living and nonliving organisms. We can live in synergy with all these, if we want. Or we can choose the path of destruction.
The choice is ours. I think the answer is obvious, in that most of us want peace. And love.
There is a path forward. Through social cohesion, in which we come together as a people. We can move away from this dystopian nightmare and move towards a more just, compassionate, caring, sustainable, regenerative and wise future.
There is a way to get there. It will take political will, a re-thinking about how best to allocate our resources and, perhaps most importantly, a change in mindset — akin to a spiritual transformation. We need to go from a scarcity way of living to an abundance approach.
The famed economist John Maynard Keynes envisioned a world that was a post-scarcity society and wrote about it in his 1930 essay "Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren." He saw a coming age of abundance within 100 years. That means we've got nine years to bring Keynes' vision to fruition.
Man, do we have a lot of work ahead of us. But we can do it. I have faith.
Just remember, it's all about the Commons and the public good. By focusing on these, we can find our way.
To put it in easy- to-remember terms: share and care, collaborate and cooperate. And also, as the Ink Spots, Sam Cooke, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and others sang, "The Best Things in Life Are Free." The songwriting team of Buddy DeSylva, Lew Brown and Ray Henderson wrote in 1927:
The moon belongs to everyone
The best things in life are free
The stars belong to everyone
They gleam there for you and for me
The flowers in spring, the robins that sing
The moonbeams that shine
They're yours, they're mine
And love can come to everyone
The best things in life are free
And love can come to everyone
The best things in life are free
In the interim, if you do feel like going up on the roof so that all your cares just drift off into space, be my guest. And when you come back down, be ready to have a renewed vigor for the transformation ahead.
We can do it.
(From left to right, beginning at the top) Patricia Gomez (WI), Reginald Robinson (DC), Vicky Chen (MA), Mikey Johnson (VA), Cathy Harmon Christian (GA)
