Recently I was able to see the London New Year fireworks from a hill 8 miles away.  Even from the glimpses I caught I could tell there was something special about them. When I found a video of them on You Tube the next day I shared the spectacular display on Facebook.  You can see the full display below. 

 

 

A waste of money?

 

A colleague responded liking the display but wondering 'how many hungry children could have been fed, medical supplies provided, schools made available with the money spent on these few minutes of entertainment.' 

She had a point.  The fireworks serve no practical benefit to any person. Her deep question brought forth an equally deep response.  I thought it worth sharing more widely.

Or a source of inspiration?

 

I don't think it's a poor use of funds that leads to people going without. Instead, it's a lack of clarity in thinking in humans.

When we miss the magic in the world around us, we suppress the human heart beat. That heart beat would naturally remind us to think in inspired ways to help a neighbour, just because it adds to a sense of humanness.

After all, how many schools misuse state-provided funds in giving school children poor quality lunches that retard their educational development? And they do this because it's easier to ignore inspired knowledge that is readily available?

How many doctors in state-funded hospitals will put blinkers on about advances in human healthcare just because the new inspired and evidenced knowledge cuts across their limiting beliefs?

And so on . . .

Doesn't a nation advance the thinking of its people through inspiration rather than the drudgery of survival? And maybe, just maybe, people who've been entranced through a show of light and colour have accessed new inspired thoughts because the magic of it helped them to hear the human beat a little more clearly.

The world I choose to live in invests in inspiring people to grow in many magnificent ways. That feels like incredible freedom to me.