I find the point of the song more to be empathy. Simon first makes the point that everything is subject to questioning by someone else. Somewhere, there's someone, who thinks your way of life is absolutely nuts. It's important to remember this, especially just as this album was being written (just after 9/11/01), because we need to realize that down deep we are all made up of the same things. On the surface, though, we are all vastly different and it's just as important for us to recognize. The challenge is to empathize with each other for those differences and recognize that it makes the world that much richer. There's something to learn from every one.
I particularly love the "everyone hears an inner voice" because it accentuates that idea that inside we're all the same. Just because we get a "different tongue" to speak the musings of that inner voice, doesn't mean it's any less, or more, important than anybody else's.
Empathy, really is, the only hope for world peace.
I find the point of the song more to be empathy. Simon first makes the point that everything is subject to questioning by someone else. Somewhere, there's someone, who thinks your way of life is absolutely nuts. It's important to remember this, especially just as this album was being written (just after 9/11/01), because we need to realize that down deep we are all made up of the same things. On the surface, though, we are all vastly different and it's just as important for us to recognize. The challenge is to empathize with each other for those differences and recognize that it makes the world that much richer. There's something to learn from every one. I particularly love the "everyone hears an inner voice" because it accentuates that idea that inside we're all the same. Just because we get a "different tongue" to speak the musings of that inner voice, doesn't mean it's any less, or more, important than anybody else's. Empathy, really is, the only hope for world peace.