Talking 'Bout My Generation?
"Waiting On The World To Change" by John Mayer
Me and all my friends
We're all misunderstood
They say we stand for nothing and
There's no way we ever could
Now we see everything that's going wrong
With the world and those who lead it
We just feel like we don't have the means
To rise above and beat it
So we keep waiting
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change
It's hard to beat the system
When we're standing at a distance
So we keep waiting
Waiting on the world to change
Now if we had the power
To bring our neighbors home from war
They would have never missed a Christmas
No more ribbons on their door
And when you trust your television
What you get is what you got
Cause when they own the information, oh
They can bend it all they want
That's why we're waiting
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change
It's not that we don't care,
We just know that the fight ain't fair
So we keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change
And we're still waiting
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting waiting on the world to change
One day our generation
Is gonna rule the population
So we keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change
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So I’m just really torn about this song. On one hand, I think the melody is beautiful, his voice is as gorgeous as ever and I really like most of the verses of this song as I think they really sum up the struggle our generation is facing as we make our place in the world and find our voice but then on the other hand are the lyrics in the chorus. John totally nails how older generations don’t get us and think that we are a generation of slackers who don’t care but then seems to confirm this generalization by saying that “yeah we see the problems but we are just waiting for change.” I recently read a quote where he talked about the song saying, “It's about a feeling in my generation and why there's a silence right now. And is silence a sanity protective measure, or is it apathy? I think it's probably a protective measure. You only get one heart and once it's jaded you never un-jade it. So, I think we're waiting for the right time to step in, you know?” My question is even if this whole waiting for the right time to step in thing is true, why isn't that time now? What happened to Ghandi’s idea of being the change you wish to see? Why can’t the song that is beginning to be touted by some as our generations’ anthem urge us into action and be a change. Don’t wait…Act!
3 comments:
There are lots of good points in the song and the blog. It does seem sometimes though folks aren’t just waiting. We participate. We buy gas guzzlers and drive to our hearts content. We buy magazines with articles on Paris Hilton or how to look thinner, usually both. We could use/take less and recycle/give more. We could but many times, many of us just don’t take the time to do it. Perhaps the issue is scale. “If we can’t fix everything, everywhere, there’s really no point in trying to do anything.” It can be hard to be a Starfish Thrower when more die than are saved....hard for us....not that one starfish. Hard but worth it for the starfish, you, me even those who have never seen the beach. To quote Napoleon Hill (author) “Don't wait. The time will never be just right.”
La, awesome points. I completely agree with you. We all need to work on bettering the little things so they build into a better big picture. It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes by Robert Kennedy, "Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."
This song is the answer to Marvin Gaye's "What's goin' on?"
Namely, "Who cares"
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