Same as It Ever Was by Michael Franti
I've been traveling around the country with my work lately. It's powerful...connecting with people from around this country and realizing that I can talk to someone from southern Louisiana and have things in common with them different than what I have in common with folks from the Northwest. I realize just how important connection is and I love connecting on a a deeply human level with people from all around this world. One of the woman I worked with spoke about how her family owns a rice farm. I couldn't stop thinking about my mom's home in India which is across the street from vast paddy fields and how rice is the sustenance of people in Kerala.
This past weekend, a few of us went to watch Michael Franti. I don't listen to him consistently, but I always appreciate his rhythms and what I always thought to be fun loving lyrics.
The moon was just starting to shine and Franti walked into the audience section and started talking about how his brother is a policeman, how he believes they are doing really important and hard work and how tragic these lost lives have been, specifically mentioning Eric Garner's name.
When I hear Eric Garner's name, I can't help but want to pause for a moment thinking about those final moments of his life. His death should not have happened, clear and simple. Nor should the countless deaths throughout this year. Just last week during my trip to Louisiana, there were three people who lost their lives to gun violence around the country.
You could feel the hundreds of people in the crowd silence. You could hear the silence. And then we heard this song:
'Same as It Ever Was'
So much love within this song. So many incredibly beautiful moments in the past year amidst tragedy where people have come together to mourn loss, to celebrate moments of connection, to attempt to create a better, stronger world.
I don't like to think of these events as simple. I know we come from systems, historic systems that make us behave in certain ways. Violence and racism have woven themselves into laws hundreds of years ago that are now antiquated. I want to believe that we are evolving as humans and that we can get to better places, but these laws and belief systems have to catch up.
If we were to see the humanity in each other, we could start to create this world we want. What does it look like on a day to day basis? Conversations with people you normally don't speak to, sharing stories, opening up instead of shutting down.
photo by Johnny Nguyen
"Same as it ever was
But there's gotta be a better way
It's the same as it ever was
But today's a different day
You and me
Couldn't make that change
But it's the same as it ever was
We better start today..."
~Michael Franti
This past weekend, a few of us went to watch Michael Franti. I don't listen to him consistently, but I always appreciate his rhythms and what I always thought to be fun loving lyrics.
The moon was just starting to shine and Franti walked into the audience section and started talking about how his brother is a policeman, how he believes they are doing really important and hard work and how tragic these lost lives have been, specifically mentioning Eric Garner's name.
When I hear Eric Garner's name, I can't help but want to pause for a moment thinking about those final moments of his life. His death should not have happened, clear and simple. Nor should the countless deaths throughout this year. Just last week during my trip to Louisiana, there were three people who lost their lives to gun violence around the country.
You could feel the hundreds of people in the crowd silence. You could hear the silence. And then we heard this song:
'Same as It Ever Was'
So much love within this song. So many incredibly beautiful moments in the past year amidst tragedy where people have come together to mourn loss, to celebrate moments of connection, to attempt to create a better, stronger world.
I don't like to think of these events as simple. I know we come from systems, historic systems that make us behave in certain ways. Violence and racism have woven themselves into laws hundreds of years ago that are now antiquated. I want to believe that we are evolving as humans and that we can get to better places, but these laws and belief systems have to catch up.
If we were to see the humanity in each other, we could start to create this world we want. What does it look like on a day to day basis? Conversations with people you normally don't speak to, sharing stories, opening up instead of shutting down.
photo by Johnny Nguyen
"Same as it ever was
But there's gotta be a better way
It's the same as it ever was
But today's a different day
You and me
Couldn't make that change
But it's the same as it ever was
We better start today..."
~Michael Franti
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