I’ve been very selective how I spend my social media time over the last few months. Yes, occasionally I get caught up and head down a rabbit hole but I’m finding that kind of time suck doesn’t serve me well. We cannot spend much time on Facebook without seeing disparaging comments coming from both sides of the aisle and I’ve had just about enough of it.

I would rather spend my precious resources toward lifting everyone up and finding ways we can moved back away from the edges to a more homogenous center where we can work together for a better tomorrow. I think of Abraham Lincoln and Dr. Martin Luther King, JFK and even George Bush. Their noble exhortations aimed at taking our eyes off of ourselves to focus on others…creating a servant’s heart.

I stumbled across this photo of Ella Fitzgerald the other day. It was taken in 1955 and she was sitting with another woman of color, on a bench in a jail cell. She was arrested for “singing to an integrated audience.” It made me so sad to see the look of dejection on Ella’s face…her shoulders slumped, hands folded in her lap. What must she have been thinking? 

“When you are accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.” Another Facebook meme I came across yesterday. I can personally attest to this. As a doctor’s wife, I experienced the privilege of seldom having to wait for an appointment with my physician. I never had to pay anything….they accepted what insurance paid. I was treated (over treated) to the best of the best.

When I was no longer a doctor’s wife, I was still known in the community so things didn’t change all that much for me. However, once I moved away from that circle of influence, I had to stand in line like everyone else. I will not lie…I had a fleeting moment of quiet indignation. Then humility took over and I cooled my jets.

“I have a dream” of a “kinder, gentler nation” with “a thousand points of light”….because “it takes a village” to “ask not what your country can do for you…ask what you can do for your country.” 

“Can’t we all just get along?”

I’m reminded of the song we sang in school…”Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.” Let’s go out there this week and do what we can to change the world because we absolutely can have an impact as one person.

Listen to Louis and Ella singing “Dream a Little Dream” HERE.  

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“Don’t mistreat someone who has mistreated you. But try to earn the respect of others, and do your best to live at peace with everyone.”

Romans 12:17-18 CEV