“Who can say what's true?
Nothing's quite so clear now-
Do things, fight things...
Feel you've lost your way?
You decide, but
You are not alone, You are not alone.
Believe me.
No one is alone.”
These lyrics are from Stephen Sondheim’s amazing song “No One Is Alone” from his musical Into the Woods.
It’s a dark, cold, rainy Sunday, and I’ve been lying on my couch listening to Jonathan Schwartz’s weekend show on WNYC public radio. When “No One Is Alone” came on, I stopped breathing.
I’ve been feeling like things may or may not be toppling. I’m not quite sure. And that’s an unsettling feeling. And I’m guessing I’m not alone. I’m guessing lots of people are wondering what’s going on with our economy, our homes, our jobs, and maybe a lot of us are feeling alone. But if we’re all feeling that, then clearly we are not alone. “No one is alone.”
And I find myself wondering, what if we all could feel how joined we are? Wouldn’t that make it easier to make decisions? For instance, if we all understood that when the economy takes a dive, the way we gauge the value of things must also dive to accommodate the new terrain. If we all understood that there is no place to run to get paid at a standard of worth that no longer exists, we might all adjust in one motion — sparing our vast organism death by individual appendage and organ. If we understand that we are one organism… well you get the picture.
Really, there’s only one thing that’s true: No one is alone!
to your door!