Until watching Mary Poppins yesterday for the first time in decades, I never got that the "spoonful of sugar" song isn't really about medicine and sugar. It's about dealing with any drudgery that comes up - a spoonful of positive context is all it takes to transform work into a decent time. (Funny how when they actually do consume medicine in the film they don't take a spoonful of sugar with it.)
Humans' ability to create positive contexts is astonishing. It's finding the bright side of things. It's walking on the sunny side of the street. And so on.
That ability is perhaps linked to what at least one paleogeneticist calls the "madness gene." That's the possible gene that led us to explore new territory, reach new and great heights and distances, to justify all sorts of actions and their results in the name of progress. Yes there are some costs (slavery, mass species extinction, environmental degradation, atomic weapons, the Holocaust), but context generation is a gift...right?
As I grow and learn and aim to be an instrument in the creation of a brighter future for life, my main goal, I suppose, is to maintain balance: seeing a need and working to cause a different future while tooting a merry tune.
"A Spoonful of Sugar" lyrics
[Spoken]
In ev'ry job that must be done
There is an element of fun
You find the fun and snap!
The job's a game
[Sung]
And ev'ry task you undertake
Becomes a piece of cake
A lark! A spree! It's very clear to see that
A Spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
The medicine go down-wown
The medicine go down
Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
In a most delightful way
A robin feathering his nest
Has very little time to rest
While gathering his bits of twine and twig
Though quite intent in his pursuit
He has a merry tune to toot
He knows a song will move the job along - for
A Spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
The medicine go down-wown
The medicine go down
Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
In a most delightful way
[Interlude]
The honey bee that fetch the nectar
From the flowers to the comb
Never tire of ever buzzing to and fro
Because they take a little nip
From ev'ry flower that they sip
And hence (And hence),
They find (They find)
Their task is not a grind.
Ah-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h ah!
A Spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
The medicine go down-wown
The medicine go down
Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
In a most delightful way
Humans' ability to create positive contexts is astonishing. It's finding the bright side of things. It's walking on the sunny side of the street. And so on.
That ability is perhaps linked to what at least one paleogeneticist calls the "madness gene." That's the possible gene that led us to explore new territory, reach new and great heights and distances, to justify all sorts of actions and their results in the name of progress. Yes there are some costs (slavery, mass species extinction, environmental degradation, atomic weapons, the Holocaust), but context generation is a gift...right?
As I grow and learn and aim to be an instrument in the creation of a brighter future for life, my main goal, I suppose, is to maintain balance: seeing a need and working to cause a different future while tooting a merry tune.
-------------------------------------
"A Spoonful of Sugar" lyrics
[Spoken]
In ev'ry job that must be done
There is an element of fun
You find the fun and snap!
The job's a game
[Sung]
And ev'ry task you undertake
Becomes a piece of cake
A lark! A spree! It's very clear to see that
A Spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
The medicine go down-wown
The medicine go down
Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
In a most delightful way
A robin feathering his nest
Has very little time to rest
While gathering his bits of twine and twig
Though quite intent in his pursuit
He has a merry tune to toot
He knows a song will move the job along - for
A Spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
The medicine go down-wown
The medicine go down
Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
In a most delightful way
[Interlude]
The honey bee that fetch the nectar
From the flowers to the comb
Never tire of ever buzzing to and fro
Because they take a little nip
From ev'ry flower that they sip
And hence (And hence),
They find (They find)
Their task is not a grind.
Ah-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h ah!
A Spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
The medicine go down-wown
The medicine go down
Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
In a most delightful way
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