All You Need is Empathy

“Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and, therefore, the foundation of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathize with humans whose experiences we have never shared.” 
― J.K. Rowling

   Burt Bacharach said that love what the world needs now. The Beatles said love was all you need. Patty Smyth said that sometimes love just ain't enough. You know what? Patty's right. Religions, civic organizations, poets, Oprah, pop music, hippies, cults, philosophers, prophets, artists, and your mom, have all been telling us since the dawn of time to love each other. It's not working. The world is still a hate-filled shit hole on a bad day and utterly indifferent on a good day. It ain't from lack of love. We love OUR families. We love OUR friends. We love OUR churches. We love OUR kind of music. We love OUR candidates. We love OUR country. We even love OUR hatred. You disagree? If people didn't get something out of hating others, then why would they continue to hate? These days, it's a lot easier to get a group of people together based on what they hate or what they're against or what they fear. Love is a real and necessary emotion, but I think what we need more these days is empathy. It's not lack of love making life suck, it's lack of empathy.
   Empathy: simply the act of seeing the world through someone else's eyes and trying understand how they feel. Look at those grown-ass people in Murietta, California holding signs and screaming at children. Now, just for a sec, put your political feelings about immigration aside. These were ADULTS...SCREAMING INSULTS...AT CHILDREN. If they had just made a conscious effort to look through the eyes of those kids, or to remember what it was like to be a kid and how intimidating and scary adults can be, maybe they would have reconsidered. Maybe not. The point is, you're less likely to hate someone(especially a child) if you put yourself in their shoes. You might never agree with them, but you might not be sent into rabid hatred at the mere sight of them.
   One thing that I have learned in my 44 years of life on this planet: Intelligent and creative people, tend to have more empathy than ignorant people. Dumb people hate more and are afraid of more than smart people. I think the comment threads on a lot of Facebook posts prove that point. Readers, in particular, seem to have more empathy for others. Here's why: Reading forces you to empathize. You are literally putting the thoughts and feelings of another person in your brain. Why do you think so many books have been banned throughout history. Those who oppose and fear change or hate those who are different or whose livelihoods depend on you staying uneducated and not thinking for yourself, have never stopped trying to keep the "wrong" books out of the hands of the "wrong" people. Ray Bradbury said, "“You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.” 
   You want to make the world a better place? Start by reading books. And not just books that reaffirm what you already know or that bolster opinions you already have. Read books that will challenge you and your beliefs. Books are magic. You can see through the eyes of the dead. You can visit every country on the planet. You can travel to places that don't exist. When you start reading a lot, a funny thing happens. You start looking at different people differently. Empathy will start to creep into your worldview. You start to look at things from different angles instead of just having the same knee-jerk reaction that you've always had.
   And THAT is what scares those in power more than anything. They want you to take their word for everything, whether it's a preacher, a politician, or anyone whose way of life depends on us never challenging what they want us to believe.  Take my favorite dip-shit of the week, Brandon Smith-R, state legislator from Kentucky. When he says that it's a proven fact that Mars and Earth share the same temperature in an attempt to prove his belief that burning coal doesn't contribute to climate change, he's counting on us to be stupid. It shows the contempt that he has for his constituents. He doesn't want people to take fifteen seconds to Google the temperature of Mars. While you're Googling that, you might also discover that Brandon owns coal mines. Shocking! People will say they want a book banned for all kinds of reasons. Profanity! Sex! Violence! Blasphemy! We need to protect the children! Don't be fooled. The main reason books are banned is because someone is afraid of the IDEAS contained in the book. "If my child reads THAT book they might not hate the gays like I do!" 
   Books create and foster empathy. There can be no real love without real empathy. You want to stick your nose into other people's lives? Stick your nose in a book.
   
   

A Hard Day's Night and the Need for Joy

"It is one of the great life-affirming landmarks of the movies." - Roger Ebert

"They were my first favorite group." - An adorable little six-year-old girl after the screening yesterday

   The Beatles, I dare say, are the only rock band, over the age of 50, still capable of inspiring such love and devotion in a six-year-old. There will simply never be another cultural phenomenon like them. Their impact and originality was such, that, much like "The Simpsons" are to animated TV shows(as "South Park" taught us), there are very few things you can do musically without the statement, "Beatles did it!" That being said, I have friends who have grown to actively despise The Beatles due to over-familiarity. I understand that feeling. I don't feel that way about The Beatles, however, there are other bands, who, through no fault of their own, have inspired hatred in me whenever I'm forced to listen to them. I could live the rest of my life without hearing "Sweet Home Alabama" or "Stairway To Heaven" or anything by Boston or Journey. (Full-disclosure: I used to be a "classic rock" DJ, so that probably has a lot to do with it. Or it's just a consequence of growing up white in 'Merica where all of the above are forced down your throat, repeatedly, like Flintstone's vitamins.) I've never felt that way about The Beatles, though(As I read once in a book about the history of rock and roll, "Not liking them is as perverse as not liking the sun.") I get it if you do. I have to ask, though...if you do, why are you still reading?

   My fiance', Adrian, and I saw the 4K restoration of "A Hard Day's Night" at the Belcourt theater in Nashville yesterday. It was the first time I saw it on the big screen. It was quite an experience. The picture quality was so insanely good that, in the final musical performances, you could see individual beads of sweat on Lennon's face. The new sound mix, by Giles Martin(son of Beatles producer, George Martin), has an immediacy to it that makes the sound of the screaming fans all-encompassing and disorienting at times. The music has never sounded better and they had the sound cranked at the theater. 

   The movie itself is one of the greatest ever made, I think. It is the cinematic equivalent of pure JOY. Directed by Richard Lester and filmed by Gilbert Taylor(who would later be DP on "Star Wars"...just sayin') the film broke new ground with it's use of hand-held camera work and editing. Every movie about music that followed borrowed it's techniques. It created a new cinematic language. All this, from a relatively low-budget film that was made to cash in on the worldwide success of The Beatles. The Fab Four weren't just another "pop group", though. They didn't want their name on anything "dead grotty." The screenplay, by Alun Owen, gave the guys a lot of funny one-liners, however, when filming began and the makers saw how naturally funny they were, more lines were written. Apart from the music, the movie is essentially a comedy and every single Beatle shows a remarkable gift for comic timing and dry, sarcastic wit. Seriously, if that whole "music" thing hadn't have worked out, they could have gone into sketch comedy. Lennon's "I declare this bridge...open" gag got a huge laugh in the theater.

   Other highlights: George's scene with the trendy TV producer("...when she's on, you turn the sound down and say rude things."). Ringo's parading scene. Paul at the press conference("...we're just good friends"). The cleanliness of Paul's grandfather. Lennon playing with boats in the tub. The "Can't Buy Me Love" sequence. Every single song on the soundtrack.

   I mentioned "joy" earlier. The film captures how it feels to be young and how it feels to have "fun" be your number one motivation for anything. I was born five years after the film was released, so I can't speak from experience, but I'm willing to bet that when kids of the period saw it, their perception changed a little bit. Don't forget, The Beatles were controversial for everything from their music to their haircuts. Rock and roll still wasn't considered "real music" at the time. Imagine being told by your parents or preacher or any authority figure that The Beatles were evil and rock music was evil and it was almost "satanic" in it's perversity. Then, you go see this movie and you see the truth and you smile all the way through it and it captures exactly how you feel about life and legitimizes all of those thoughts you've had that you were told were "bad" and you walk out of the theater and you see the world through new eyes and just maybe, for the first time in your life you start to realize that, not always, but sometimes Mom, Dad, the schoolteacher, and the preacher on Sunday morning are full of shit. 

   As I sat in the theater, holding my fiance's hand and letting the movie wash over me, I started to cry. The tears were a mixture of joy and sadness. Joy for how perfect a work of art this film is and how great the songs are and how lucky I was to be sitting there and experiencing it with the woman I love. Sadness because John and George are no longer with us and because I knew the innocence and fun that the film represents gives way to adulthood and age. The Beatles grew up and broke apart. The '60's ended in death and destruction. We get older and life throws things at us with the chaotic ferocity of a madman. Thanks to movies like "A Hard Day's Night", we can return and remember what it was like to be young and filled with joy and as long as we can return to that, then there still might be hope for us.