It’s not an official Music Monday but as the election draws near, I wanted to share two songs (one this week and another next Monday) which express my hopes for us as a nation of Americans. This week features a brand new song by Garth Brooks called, “We Belong to Each Other.” So new, in fact, he does not have an official music video yet, but I’ve posted a link to a brief interview with Robin Roberts where Garth shared a lyrics video on her Facebook Page.
There are lots of songs about unity and brotherly love, but this one struck me with its simple lyric, “We belong to each other, sister and brother.”
We belong to each other. Without each other we are less. We are responsible for the success of us, as a whole. I belong to you… and you to me. We are all Americans, and we are all fellow human beings. We most certainly have different ideas about how our country should be run, what our policies should be, and how to fix everything from the economy to the tax code to global warming to which part of the Oreo to eat first. It has been that way since the very beginning and will be that way to the bitter end. But all along the way, we belong to each other. We are certainly capable of living alone, but at our core we are creatures of community. We thrive best together. As Garth says, “We are sister and brother. Born to love one another.”
Most of our LionSpeak subscribers connected with us through professional channels. Over the next few weeks, you will likely overhear many political opinions or comments being voiced around the water cooler, on a Zoom session, or on social media. You will overhear much the same in grocery store lines, gas stations, and from neighbors and friends. What if you decided that, even if you disagree, you will suspend harsh judgment and respond with respect, positivity, and love? What if we remember that we are not separate from one another… in fact, we belong to each other?
If enough of us committed to that response, what kind of impact could we make? What kind of water could we throw on the flames instead of igniting larger fires? What kind of example would we set for our children, co-workers, and fellow citizens?
As we all work together, live together, raise families together, go to church together, live in the same neighborhoods together, and vote together, let us stand up and be an example of how to do all of those things with dignity and selflessness. If we disagree, let us do so with kindness and respect.
Let Garth’s powerful lyrics inspire you, as they have me, to be the light, to take the high road, to contribute in a positive way instead adding to the negative. “We are ancient stars, turned to flesh and bone, we’re all travelers on a bus ride home. We’re all leaves on the same tree, under one sky… don’t let nobody tell you otherwise. We belong to each other, sister and brother, born to love one another.”
https://www.facebook.com/robinroberts/videos/3121735334551430
You and me, we belong to each other.
“In the end nothing we do or say in this lifetime will matter as much as the way we have loved one another.”
~ Daphne Rose Kingma
