Imagine: July 2013

Broadway musicals were always an important part of my life. There was a time I knew the lyrics to almost every song from every current musical. In many ways the songs guided my life and told part of my life story at the same time telling the stories of the characters in the play. Like many songs, especially if not listened to frequently or for an extended period of time, I would sing lyrics that are somewhat similar to those intended but not the same. Eventually my lyrics would stay with me forever and replace the original lyrics, even when I knew better.

A song from Big River The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1985) is such a song. “Worlds Apart” plays clearly and frequently in my mind as an example of my unintended adaptation.

For example, the songs starts with the lyrics, “I see the same stars from my window that you see through yours, but we’re worlds apart” but for whatever reason I sing, “I see the same moon with my eyes that you see with yours, but we’re worlds apart.” I love my lyrics and for decades they have traveled with me from living in NYC to Ohio to Wisconsin and now Illinois. Wherever I live it is hard for me to look at the moon without thinking of the song and the messages it carries.

My son and I saw the play, more than once, he loved the play. When we went to the play the first time was only six years. At home we played the album, yes, album, all the time and played the cassette tape; yes cassette tape, when we traveled on our long car trips. We knew the songs well and had a nice connection to each other through the music.

A year after we saw the play the fist time we moved from NYC to Ohio. The second summer after we moved my son started to attend a sleep away camp. He attended the same camp all the way through elementary school and middle school and then during high school he became a camp counselor. At night when I would be outside and see the moon I would sing “I see the same moon with my eyes that you see yours” and think that even though we were not together I knew the moon connected us. So the song and the moon provided me a level of comfort.

Now almost every time when I look at the moon – many years later – I think many wonderful things. When I get out of the car after an evening class and walk from the garage to the house or when I am walking the dogs and look at the moon, I sing to myself, “I see the same moon with my eyes that you see with yours ... Einstein, the Dalia Lama, Lincoln, Rose Parks, John Lennon, Martin Luther King Junior, President Obama, my parents, my grandparents, my great grandparents, each of you and all the young adolescents and middle level teachers in the world.” No matter where in the world - no matter when in time, we all see or saw the same moon. WOW! Talk about a ponder!

In 1961 President Kennedy announced to Congress his impossible dream of sending an American safely to the moon before the end of the decade. To most it seemed like President Kennedy was dreaming the impossible dream (opps, lyrics from another Broadway musical song). In July 1969 both Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left their footprints on the moon. We accomplished the impossible dream. WOW – talk about another ponder – to think that people walked on the moon, the very moon that my eyes, your eyes and eyes from all over the world and throughout time see or have seen. At that moment in history the moon yielded power –I remember the event well – it was one of those “where were you when” moments.

The moon does not get much attention now and it has been relegated to the back seat over time until something really cool happens like the Supermoon we had this June, a lunar eclipse, or a harvest moon. But for me when the sun goes down and the moon comes up – I see magic and wonder - I see magic every night I see the moon. I see its connectedness to time, space, people and events. I see its oneness to everyone and everything. I think it is unfortunate that the moon is taken for granted when it has so much unifying power.

Of course my experiences connected to the moon may be similar to others’ experiences connected to the stars and skies, the real lyrics in the song. However, I think the skies have variations and that people don’t see the same skies – although Jimi Hendric’s 1967 lyric from Purple Haze. “Excuse me, while I kiss the sky, “ is pretty cool.

Join me on my Broadway memory. Read the lyrics below and watch a link to a video production of the song and then share what does the magic, power, connectedness, and oneness expressed in this song mean to you, as a teacher. Post your response on my blog, then cut, paste, and also post your response on your blog.

Enjoy

Worlds Apart

JIM:

I see the same stars through my window

That you see through yours

But we're worlds apart

Worlds apart

And I see the same skies through brown eyes

That you see through blue