Posted on Aug 29, 2016 in
LIVING THE SWEET LIFE
By Alisa Murray www.AlisaMurray.com Nationally recognized portrait artist and award-winning columnist.
This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine. Oh! This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!
Those words are words to live by, folks. In the wake of all sorts of craziness that should not even be happening in our civilized society, I have one thing to say to each and to all of you, and it matters not what your race, religion, ethnicity or sexual preferences might be. It’s real simple: Learn to Love.
Love is about sharing and caring and being patient and not judging. Love is about helping and showing tenderness and feeling attachment. Love is about concern and sympathy and humanity and yearning. Love is about benevolence and affection and appreciation and fondness. When we love each other, there is nothing else. There is no space or place for hate.
It is high time that we all come together to let that little itty bit of our population come to understand that we as a whole are not made up of hate. We do not live our lives radically, plotting and planning to hurt our fellowman. Most of us – in fact, all of my friends and their friends – actually feel the same. We all love and want to live and let live.
Our light comes from our Maker, and we are each called to find “it” and let that shine all around us.
There are the one or two feel good stories that hit our television sets and news feeds, and that one little feel good has a hard time competing with all of the hate. But folks, the reality is the world as a whole isn’t full of hate. It’s like Nana used to say, “Don’t let one bad apple spoil the whole bushel.” This is precisely what needs to be screamed and blasted into our lives and covered in our media: Love rules…hate drools.
It can be daunting to stand out. It can be scary to post on Facebook. It can be uncomfortable to say something nice when it is so easy to feel angry. I mainly feel disappointment in what has been done, what has been said and in some cases, the lack thereof. Shame on all of us as a collective whole. We are better than this and are capable of so much more, and if for no other reason, let me just remind you that the children are watching. They are taking notes. They are paying attention. The seeds of hate are sown at the dinner table and cannot be untaught.
So, I think we all need to take a deep breath, roll up our sleeves and shine our lights. Like Granny said, “If you can’t find anything nice to say, then say nothing at all.” But try. You have the light. Just turn it on. Shine it loud, and shine it proud and make the world light up with love. It’s a simple thing to do, and truthfully, most of us do it anyway every day, all of the time. We just have to do it so much more!
Show love to the old man at the grocery store who is dressed different from you. Open the door for the veteran who has come back a changed person forever because he loved you. He loved this country and decided it would be worth it to risk never feeling pure again to continue to retain the freedom that we all enjoy. Stop a police officer instead of him stopping you, and just say thank you. Find a teen who needs a mentor, and provide some sound advice about life. Caring for each other as we are supposed to do in a sea of love leaves little room for hate, and that is the world we should be living in. I know we can do it!
Take Care of YOU!
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