A song to remember that America can change
We all woke up to heart-breaking, awful news yesterday about the massacre at an LGBT nightclub in Orlando. I promptly parked myself on the sofa with my coffee and spent the morning in disbelief. I retweeted smart people on Twitter who were better at articulating how frustrated I felt than I was. I cried and thought about moms and friends and significant others who no longer have their loved ones, and then I looked for the helpers--the people in the middle of the madness whose first instinct was to help others, the first responders, the people who put themselves in harms way to save others. How remarkable.
When I get frustrated and angry about America and how slow we are to change, I try to think about everything my grandparents saw in their lives--the great depression, two world wars, wireless phones, segregation, civil rights, Vietnam, birth control, AIDs, Korea, the eradication of Polio, waves of immigration, television, cable, cell phones, green energy... the list goes on. I've seen so many good changes happen in my life, too, and I know it will keep getting better.
I remember the first time I even heard about gay rights. I was in a summer kids theater program in 4th grade, we didn't have enough kids to fill the roles so one the head counselor called in reinforcements from her college theater program. One was the kindest, sweetest gay man. I just remember thinking he was so great that it was absolutely crazy to me that he couldn't get married. I didn't really know about the intricacies of civil unions or marriage or adoption or anything really, I just knew that it wasn't fair.
Terror is something the LGBT community confronts with scary frequency. Online and in person, in the form of bullies and bigots and fear mongers. It shouldn't have a place in America. I was watching this show this weekend called Home Fires about WWII, and a conversation between two women about escaping the UK and moving to America where they could be themselves... it just hit me so hard that they believed that back then and that it's still not true in a broad sense in America more that 60 years later. And it should be. My heart is with the LGBT community this week.
If you, like me, believe that there should be sensible gun control, please vote based on your conscious. Please speak up and be loud and don't take no for an answer.
I know change will come. I'm going to work hard to make sure that it does.
Change Will Come by Sam Cooke
Lyrics
I was born by the river in a little tent
Ohh and just like the river I've been running ev'r since
It's been a long time, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will
It's been too hard living, but I'm afraid to die
'Cause I don't know what's up there, beyond the sky
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will
I go to the movie and I go downtown
Somebody keep tellin' me don't hang around
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will
Then I go to my brother
And I say brother help me please
But he winds up knockin' me
Back down on my knees, ohh
There have been times that I thought I couldn't last for long
But now I think I'm able to carry on
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come, oh yes it will
When I get frustrated and angry about America and how slow we are to change, I try to think about everything my grandparents saw in their lives--the great depression, two world wars, wireless phones, segregation, civil rights, Vietnam, birth control, AIDs, Korea, the eradication of Polio, waves of immigration, television, cable, cell phones, green energy... the list goes on. I've seen so many good changes happen in my life, too, and I know it will keep getting better.
I remember the first time I even heard about gay rights. I was in a summer kids theater program in 4th grade, we didn't have enough kids to fill the roles so one the head counselor called in reinforcements from her college theater program. One was the kindest, sweetest gay man. I just remember thinking he was so great that it was absolutely crazy to me that he couldn't get married. I didn't really know about the intricacies of civil unions or marriage or adoption or anything really, I just knew that it wasn't fair.
Terror is something the LGBT community confronts with scary frequency. Online and in person, in the form of bullies and bigots and fear mongers. It shouldn't have a place in America. I was watching this show this weekend called Home Fires about WWII, and a conversation between two women about escaping the UK and moving to America where they could be themselves... it just hit me so hard that they believed that back then and that it's still not true in a broad sense in America more that 60 years later. And it should be. My heart is with the LGBT community this week.
If you, like me, believe that there should be sensible gun control, please vote based on your conscious. Please speak up and be loud and don't take no for an answer.
I know change will come. I'm going to work hard to make sure that it does.
Change Will Come by Sam Cooke
Lyrics
I was born by the river in a little tent
Ohh and just like the river I've been running ev'r since
It's been a long time, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will
It's been too hard living, but I'm afraid to die
'Cause I don't know what's up there, beyond the sky
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will
I go to the movie and I go downtown
Somebody keep tellin' me don't hang around
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will
Then I go to my brother
And I say brother help me please
But he winds up knockin' me
Back down on my knees, ohh
There have been times that I thought I couldn't last for long
But now I think I'm able to carry on
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come, oh yes it will
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