Most everyone knows this famous song from the ’60s first performed by Peter, Paul and Mary and then by the iconic Bob Dylan. The lyrics resonated the turbulence of the inequality of civil rights at the time, but upon closer look, there are questions Dylan asks in the song that can have double meaning, prompting us to self-examine our own existence.

“… And how many times can a man turn his head and pretend that he just doesn’t see.” You can take this line in several different directions for interpretation. Here’s mine. Recently, I wrote a story for this newspaper about a young man who is physically disabled. One of the things he enjoys doing is sitting in his wheelchair by Beltzville Lake.

“I like to watch the water,” he says.

The first thought that came to my mind was that’s what his limitations have allowed him to do, but then I thought again. Those of us who have the physical ability to be in motion, to go here and go there as we please, well how many of us would sit for a lengthy period of time and “watch the water,” and if we did, what would we see? Look upon the lake and see the gentle roll of waves, and when the sun gleams upon the surface in the early morning or late afternoon, thousands of emeralds and sapphires sparkle in perfect rhythm with the sweep of the wind. That is what I see, a remarkable concert of light and liquid.

Another question Dylan raises in the song is “How many times must a man look up before he can see the sky?” When you sit by the edge of a body of water, the sky looks so grand, so majestic, painted with brush strokes of whites, grays, blues, oranges and pinks and you just have to wonder about the creation of the universe and that we have been given the privilege to be a very small but very special part of it.

Here’s a few of my own lyrical lines I might put into this classic song.

How many hours must someone work before he or she realizes how much life is being missed? Praise the person who puts in 50-60 hours a week on the job that delivers a paycheck with high numbers, but at what cost? Is he or she missing spending time with needed recreation or with a child or a spouse? Benjamin Franklin preached that everything we do in life should be about moderation. If the scale is tipped too much to one side working a job, most likely what has been sacrificed is time, something none of us can get back once it’s gone.

How many times do you look in the mirror and like what you see? Mirrors show only the superficial, the outer layer, the skin that the everyone can see. Technology hasn’t invented a mirror that delves deeply into our conscience, one that flashes back all the deceit we deliver to the world from our minds. Years ago, a teacher in a psychology class told us to do an experiment where you look into a mirror and stare into your eyes. If you can hold the stare for a solid five minutes, you are content with who you are. If your eyes fidget or you can’t hold the stare for that length of time, you might think you’re being false to yourself and deceitful to everyone else. This teacher believed in the old saying, “The eyes are the windows to the soul.”

How many times does someone worry about what happened long ago or what will happen in the future? We just have the present moment to do something with, and too many times have I let the moment go because I was feeling bad about something that happened yesterday or worrying about what’s going to happen tomorrow. To live in the present moment is difficult indeed, but that’s the only time you have to be true to yourself and to others.

How many times do we need to be reminded that life is short? We know not the day or the hour when we will take or last breaths. The existentialist might say, “We never asked to be born only to find out that someday we’re going to die.” You can’t argue the truth of that statement so that places a premium on what we’re supposed to do with the rest of our time we have left. Author Mandy Hale wrote, “Dance. Smile. Giggle. Marvel. Trust. Hope. Love. Wish. Believe. Most of all, enjoy every moment of the journey and appreciate where you are at this moment instead of always focusing on how far you have to go.”

How many times do you look for solutions to problems and you find none? Finally, your stubbornness to prove you can solve the dilemma yourself wears thin and you ask someone for help. Still no solution, so you ask another for help. The dilemma remains unsolved. But you say, there has to be a way to find an answer to solve the problem.

If you ask Bob Dylan, he might say, “The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind.”

Rich Strack can be reached at richiesadie11@gmail.com.