Nothing's Gonna Change My World?

You ever think about cliché phrases that might not mean what you've thought they always meant?

Like "One in a million."

Think about it. "Oh, he's a great guy. He's one in a million." We always use it positively. Meaning that someone is rare.

But think about turning the phrase around for a moment. Put me in the middle of 999,999 people who look like me, talk like me, and act like me, and once again I'm one-in-a-million, but now it means something else. Funny how that works, don't you think?

There's this phrase, I've always liked, in the song across the universe (originally by the Beatles, covered by Rufus Wainright, Fiona Apple, and a host of others).

"Nothing's gonna change my world."

I always liked the phrase because I thought it was an edgy sort of determined defiance. A refusal to let other people dictate what happens inside your personal universe. A strong proclamation of independence from the sweeping tides that bowl over other, weaker men every day.

But what if it is a lament?

What if it is not a defiant crowing at all, but rather a despairing wail? A cry of trapped isolation and desparation? Of a man without hope recognizing that no matter how long he struggles, or who strives along with him, his universe will remain unchanged, and his troubles will never recede to be replaced by the light of a brighter day?

What if our moments of most joyous proclamation should really be lamentations?