Hello, Goodbye

You say yes, I say no
You say stop and I say go, go, go
You say goodbye and I say hello

‘Hello, Goodbye’ was top of the UK singles charts for seven weeks in 1967. Paul McCartney says the song describes choices we have to make in life:

‘I’m attracted to the binary… You say yes, I say no… You say black, I say white… You can always find an opposite… it’s playing with certainties: yes and no, stop and go – there’s little ambiguity in these words.’

Yesterday’s news included: ‘Barbastelle bats have been discovered along the proposed route of the West Winch Access Road, a £109m scheme designed to combat congestion on the A47 and A10 and allow 4,000 new homes to be built. The creatures are protected by law and their presence has led Norfolk Wildlife Trust to lodge an objection to the road…’

You say yes, I say no; you say stop, I say go, go, go.

Opposing points of view comes into all aspects of life… in politics and religion, business and the home, Christmas presents and holidays. Choices have to be made. Sadly, too often the differences lead to disappointment, division, prejudice, hatred, anger, violence…

McCartney also wrote and sung with Stevie Wonder:

Ebony and ivory
Live together in perfect harmony
Side by side on my piano keyboard
Oh Lord, why don’t we?

We all know
That people are the same wherever you go
There’s good and bad in everyone…

He explains: ‘‘Ebony and Ivory’ was written as a response to the problem of racial tension, which had been the cause of a lot of racial friction in the UK around that time.’

Differences don’t have to be destructively divisive…

This morning I read St Paul’s words: ‘There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.’ In this Advent season we reflect again on the baby who came to bring people – with all of their differences – together.