Look Up, Sammy

Originally posted on December 02, 2009 – by Andre Piet

The consummate artist Ramses Shaffy is no longer among us. After a turbulent (and dissipated) life, he died yesterday at the age of 76. He left us beautiful songs. His first real hit was “Sammy.” It is about a pitiful boy (“Sammy, don’t walk so bent over”) who is no match for the world and the people around him. In the chorus of the song, Sammy is repeatedly urged to look up. And then the song closes with the splendid (Dutch) words, “Hoog Sammy, kijk omhoog Sammy.  Er is er één die van jou houdt” (High, Sammy, look up high, Sammy. There is One who loves you.)

It is the best tip a human being can ever receive: to look up. Literally and figuratively. To look away from yourself, the circumstances, the world around you. And to look up to the One who loves you and gives you help.

I shall lift up my eyes to the mountains,
From where shall my help come?
Psalm 121:1

Why, to ask the question is to answer it! My help comes from the direction to which I lift up my eyes. True help, by definition, comes from above and from nowhere else.

Years ago someone told me that it is impossible to look up and cry at the same time. When our children were still small, I often put this claim to the test, and indeed, it is true. If one of the children came to us crying (usually with the face turned downward), the trick was to point something out to them in the air, in the tree, or on the ceiling or the like. At that moment the crying is over. Very telling!

The Greek word for “human” is “anthropos” (think of anthropology, anthroposophy, etc.). That word is a compound of different words. The first part of “anthropos” is derived from “ana” (Str. 435) and means “upward.” The middle part of the word is derived from “trope” (Str. 5157) and means “to turn.” The last part is derived from “optomai” (Str. 3700) and means “to see” or “to look.” Judging from the parts of which it is built, the word human (anthropos) therefore means: someone who looks away from the things around him (>turning away) and looks upward.
That is what makes a human, HUMAN.

Delen: