There Are So Many Worlds to Explore
When You Think You’re Looking Wide, Look Wider Still
… and the one you all know, come on, sing along!
Up, up with people!
You meet ’em wherever you go!
Up, up with people!
There the best sort of folks we know!
If more people were for people
All people everywhere
There’d be a lot less people to worry about
And a lot more people to care
There’d be a lot less people to worry about
And a lot more people to care!
Alone in the basement I belted it out, the star of my own Broadway show.
(Yes I was a freak … and you had your air guitar. So there.)
* * *
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word became Song.
If you tell yourself something often enough, it will become you.
Words become action become character.
There is something shameful about admitting a large portion of your moral code rises from children’s songs.
And yet…
Right this minute I’m enjoying a vision of Buddha and Jesus and Muhammad and Abraham and Gaia and what the heck, even the Big Old White-Haired Guy, singing and dancing with canes and straw hats, a chorus line of white-robed beings behind them.
* * *
Tonight I am going to my birthday present: the Up with People show.
At the family birthday party last week, Sibling Five-of-Six showed me the floor plan of a theater with all of the wheelchair spaces highlighted in purple. She can lock in, and I can sit in the companion seat beside her.
“I’ll take you for your birthday,” she said. “Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always wanted to see them.”
For my birthday, she'll take me to a show she wants to see. This is how Five-of-Six does it: takes the simplest, most straightforward thing and twists it around on itself. I believe she has never drawn a straight line in her life; I believe she is not capable of it. If you asked her what is the shortest distance between two points, she would draw a Mobius strip. If you said, "Come on, do it right," she would strain to understand. Determined to please you, she would draw a double helix.
Thus ...
If you knew Five-of-Six—running away from home at 13 and again at 14 and finally for good at 15, living by her wits on the streets of three major and a couple of minor cities, then dried up and cleaned up and one of the world’s weirdest and most successful mothers—it would come as no surprise to you that she is an Up with People fan.
At the core of it all, Five-of-Six believes in nothing so much as the universal goodness of the human heart.
Yeah, yeah, me too.
But I’ve pretty much outgrown the whole upbeat song-and-dance thing. All that pep! All those exclamation points! It’s nice for the kids, but I’m a woman now. Give me tango.
So when Five-of-Six pleads, “Do you want to go with me?” in the high-pitched, baby-girl voice she uses when she is afraid that her big sisters will tell her she’s stupid (which we do much too often), my first thought is: There’s tango that night.
Then my thoughts come in a tumble:
There aren’t many Saturday night milongas … and her voice is really high … and I feel guilty that I don’t spend enough time with her … but Saturday night milongas have a special character, both fancy and friendly … and she really wants her big sister to like her … and the shy-gene almost never kicks in at the milongas on Saturday nights … and none of her big sisters shows her we love her enough … and she’s mostly locked in her house with that damn wheelchair …
I can see you can see where this is going.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from tango it’s to let time unfold. There will be other Saturday night milongas.
Five-of-Six is shouting over the cacophony of all the family voices. “Guess what? One Heart wants to go!”
Over dinner, she says it again. She enthuses at length. People exchange glances, but no one is taking this moment from her.
From the foot of the table, Two-of-Six sings: Up, up with people…
We all know the song by heart. We’ve been carrying the lyrics around since the Up with People troupe visited our elementary school.
It’s easier to up-with people who are halfway around the world than it is your little sister.
But I am committed now, and I am not going halfway. The least I can do is show my respect. For the past week I have been telling myself
When you think you're looking wide
Look wider still
There are many so worlds to explore
All you have to do is to open the door
And let your spirit soar.
There’s the world of yourself when you’re all alone ...
And there’s the world of others, too.
All Creation from the start
Becomes a wonderland
To all who learn to lend a heart
Before they lend a hand
And when you've looked the world around,
Then look once more
Meet the Other on its own ground
Find yourself there
Up with People is what it is. Peppy and sweet and unspoiled. Why not take it on for a night? Why not leave our cynica(du)l(t) selves with the babysitter and treat the kid in ourselves to a night on the town?
Five-of-Six wants to. She wants to dwell in that pre-adolescent state of mind for a few hours. If I go as a grown-up, it will rob Five-of-Six of the moment.
OK. I am going. Fully there. I will do it for Five-of-Six.
For my birthday.
Not a bad gift.
Actually, quite nice.
Probably the most meaningful gift I’ve had in a while.
Or will have.
This is how Five-of-Six does it.
Damn, she’s good.
* * *
Five-of-Six has called. She hurts so much she's not sure she can go.
I think I’ll be better, she says. When it hurts this bad, it either gets much worse or it just goes away. I think it will go away. I'll call you later and let you know.
She’s changed the will-call tickets to my name, just in case.
* * *
Hear it: Up With People
(it's the icon at the bottom right corner)
Look Wider Still
When you think you're looking wide
Look wider still
Behold the world that lies beyond
Your window sill
All creation from the start
Becomes a wonderland
For all who learn to lend a heart
Before they lend a hand
And when you've looked the world around
Then look once more
And find the friendships to be found
Beyond your door
You will walk the earth with pride
And never look you fill
When you look
And look wide
And look wider still
There Are So Many Worlds to Explore
There are so many worlds to explore
There are so many worlds to explore
All you have to do is to open the door
And let your spirit soar.
There's the world of yourself when you're all alone
There's the world of yourself when you're just at home
There's the world of friends so true
And there's the world of others too
But the world that is best is the out-of-doors
Because you never know just what's in store
There's beauty, rest and solitude
That fills your heart full of gratitude
For the thigns that make this world so nice
The birds and the trees are just a spice
Of what people sacrificed
To make this world a paradise
There are so many worlds to explore
There are so many worlds to explore
All you have to do is to open the door
And let your spirit soar.
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