ALL YOU NEED IS TO TRUST IN LOVE…AND THE MUSIC OF THE BEATLES

When in advertising, one of five principles our Chairman of DDB Keith Reinhard promised clients was that the advertising created for them would Generate Trust.

I believe he was saying that without trust, we would have nothing- no likability, no friends, no soul, no pride of ownership in our work or ourselves, and constantly having to be looking over our shoulders about everything as, maybe, we haven’t been honest about something or another. Very possibly, not being honest about ourselves.

Again, personally speaking, I think that having little or no teamwork today in what’s become a DIY world, and where AI is even gobbling up the DIYs, standards of everything are dropping like bombs did on Hiroshima.

Taking shortcuts to arrive at wherever we think we’re going in a in a world in reverse is often looking for something we can’t find.

Maybe it’s because there’s nothing there?

In little old Hong Kong, the city’s Chief Executive is often shown in the newspapers doing the best he can to keep the city safe, knowing how there cannot be any new disruptions like there have been and also seen visiting the elderly and the younger generation.

He’s also said to be working to ensure that the widening gap between the very rich and the very poor is somehow being resolved and understands the need for there to be a strong middle class plus a community spirit built on, yes, trust. 

John KS Lee should be applauded for his efforts, and though he has a team behind him and the power to make good things happen, there are also those “things” that are working at loggerheads with his efforts and which means losing valuable time. 

Why? Because these people are peddling the promises of easy riches and a materialistic lifestyle.

Giving with the left and taking from the right is called a sleight of hand trick.

In the language of the Beatles, these are the Blue Meanies and we all know who they are and loathe these fat cats as they are duplicitous and vapid creatures.

These are the hypocritical ways of the world and why we’re forced to take sides which creates opposing points of view that don’t ever go towards creating solutions through open dialogue because there are always apathetic barriers in place.

Having lived in Hong Kong for most of my life, what hasn’t been missed is that with what might be termed “progress” comes a lust for power- and more and more power- that brings about apathy and a total lack of empathy despite all the acting for the cameras to show “caring”.

There’s also an addictive and insidious need to be seen on that often very warped online destination known as “social media” with its “influencers”, where materialism quickly creepy crawlies in and bringing with it all types of internal combustion led by jealousy and more lack of trust.

As our parents would often tell us, “Money is the root of all evil”, and the older we get, we keep seeing those who spring into action to guard their financial turf, which always always and always tells me why there will never be trust when a greed for power and wealth takes over lives and minds.

For some reason, this lack of trust and honesty reminds me of going to primary and secondary school in Hong Kong and never wanting any classmates to know where we lived. 

This was because where my parents and I could afford to live was nowhere close to those families who enjoyed the perks of expat packages and having access to private clubs, personal chauffeurs, domestic helpers and everything else money buys.

Author James Clavell painted a very accurate picture of this pukka colonial lifestyle in his books on Hong Kong called “Taipan” and “Noble House”.

Thankfully- yes, thankfully- we were not “armed” with everything available in today’s online world that really needs more than a reality check. 

It needs far stronger online laws so that we can see positive change taking place instead of serial bad news bombarding our already fragile minds and causing constant shocks to the system.

This free-for-all world is making many who are too young to understand grow up not knowing right from wrong and misunderstanding pretty much everything they see while thinking that money is the solution to every problem.

They’re not exactly going down to Strawberry Fields not are they on Penny Lane.

What Keith Reinhard instilled in some of us young ad guys and mad men- Generate Trust- has lived inside of me for all these very many years though it’s not always worked. But, one tries to right the wrongs and believes in forgiveness. 

Also living inside of me has been the Peace and Love of songs by the Beatles, as a group and individually- “All You Need Is Love”, “Here Comes The Sun”, “Give Peace A Chance”, “Imagine”, “All Things Must Pass”, “Tomorrow Never Knows”, “Good Day Sunshine”, “Sun King”, “Golden Slumbers”, “Let It Be”…

On the flip side, the Beatles also introduced us to the Blue Meanies and characters like Mean Mister Mustard and Bungalow Bill with George Harrison warning us to Beware Of Darkness and keep away from those superficial Piggies.

It’s no secret that I believe this group of individuals from Liverpool somehow came together to help teach us many things about ourselves- the importance of friendship, love, peace and harmony, and always believing in those values we often keep hid because maybe we find honesty to be a sign of weakness.

When John met Yoko and drifted away to be with each other, it was to use their names and media interest in them to shine a light on a world gone wrong. 

I saw nothing wrong in Bagism, planting acorns for peace- I did this in Hong Kong when Ronnie Hawkins visited the city with journalist Ritchie Yorke as John and Yoko’s messengers of Peace- holding bed-ins, singing “Give Peace A Chance”, “Merry XMas (War Is Over)”, “Power To The People”, and wishing to be seen as Two Virgins.

John Lennon was using his voice to make himself heard whether some might not have liked what he had to say or not. 

Remember him saying something about the Beatles being more popular than Jesus? 

He was right.

Him writing “Happiness Is A Warm Gun” and knowing how his life was taken away from him is not just eerie, it’s prophetic and tragic and a Wake Up Call that’s as telling as him telling us to imagine all the people living life in peace.

Call me naive or stupid, call me anything you effing want, but I am who I am and I believe in the power of magic, especially when I find it in music. 

I am also drawn to Arthurian legends about Camelot and Merlin, the knights of the round table, Guinevere, the Lady Of The Lake, King Arthur and Excalibur.

Always, I return to the magic of the Beatles and their music to feel recharged and energised and leave those dark clouds and bleak people behind.

Trust is in very short supply today, and which has created a terribly divided and angry world- a world divided by religion, racism, jealousy, politics, ignorance, selfishness and tonnes and tonnes of hate.

As someone close to me always says, without trust, there’s only mistrust. 

She’s right and there’s something almost biblical about this line that brings to mind Adam and Eve being banished from the Garden of Eden.

Yeah, I know that I can get quite spiritual which some might find a tad gooey, but as my personal Jesus in Ricky Gervais says, “I really don’t care”.

Maybe it’s kinda strange to think that the Beatles offer me more trust and Hope than many other things being peddled do and which I don’t buy into.

This is very probably because unlike the very real and unreal fact and fiction and truth that the Beatles sang about, what’s been given away today offers nothing to an already addled minded whirlybird world.

Whatever gets you through the night and whatever and whoever generates Trust in all its many forms is magical and mystical and spiritual and powerful.

Trust also helps one dive into the deep end of the pool and swim against the tide of negativity. 

It works to keep us grounded and with our heads above the oncoming waves while washing away whatever it is many are drowning in.

This is the emotional nourishment that’s needed by picking up the baton passed on to us and creating a new world order in order to silence the current world disorder.

Thank You John, Paul, George and Ringo and Keith.

---