When Helen from Song Lyric Sunday read my post Imagine today, she told me of another group that sang the song. I just listed to their version. I was so touched by their rendition and the message that went with it that I decided to share it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Tag: diversity
Song Lyric Sunday: Everyday People
Helen’s direction for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday is to “post a song that deals with judgment or the opposite- getting rid of judgment and being more accepting of everyone.”
I love how this weekly challenge gives me the opportunity to re-connect with music that has been important to me in the past. The song I chose for this week is Sly and the Family Stone’s Everyday People.
Everyday People was written by Sly Stone and was released in 1968. It was the first single by his band to reach #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Wikipedia reports that Everyday People was “one of Sly Stone’s pleas for peace and equality between differing races and social groups, a major theme and focus for the band.” It also stated that the band was “the first major integrated band in rock history.”
Sometimes I’m right and I can be wrong
My own beliefs are in my song
The butcher, the banker, the drummer and then
Makes no difference what group I’m in
I am everyday people, yeah yeah
There is a blue one who can’t accept the green one
For living with a fat one trying to be a skinny one
And different strokes for different folks
And so on and so on and scooby dooby doo
Oh sha sha we got to live together
I am no better and neither are you
We are the same whatever we do
You love me you hate me you know me and then
You can’t figure out the bag I’m in
I am everyday people, yeah yeah
There is a long hair that doesn’t like the short hair
For bein’ such a rich one that will not help the poor one
And different strokes for different folks
And so on and so on and scooby dooby doo
Oh sha sha we got to live together
There is a yellow one that won’t accept the black one
That won’t accept the red one that won’t accept the white one
And different strokes for different folks
And so on and so on and scooby dooby doo
I am everyday people
How Free Would We Be If We Cared This Deeply?
A friend shared the link to this beautiful piece by Chani Nicholas with me. Chani has given me permission to reprint her words on my blog.
“I want to live in a world where old ladies can afford to buy a cup of coffee.
And healthcare, because it’s free.
A world where folks are allowed to dress as they desire to and call themselves as they need to be called. Love who they love. Live how they live.
I want to live in a world where folks are allowed to live.
With dignity. In diversity. In a world that honors our differences and celebrate our connections.
I want to live in a world that apologizes when it’s wrong. A world that makes amends and reparations for what it has taken. A world that does not look away from its own horror. A world that builds monuments to resilience and resistance. A world that listens to the stories of the survivors. And believes them. A world that seeks to understand rather than to be understood. A world that listens to the stories of the past and a world that refuses to repeat its mistakes.
I want to live in a world where pain is transformed in the present, not passed down to future generations. A world that is organized around protecting the rights of each being, including every creature on the earth and the earth itself. A world where the hungry get fed first, the wounded receive remedies right away and the heart-broken know where to go to get a hug.
I want to live in a world where everyone is afforded the ability to take care of their own needs. And the needs of their loved ones. A world where The System prioritizes self-care. A world where self-determination is possible. A world where feeling competent, autonomous and related to folks that love you is the measure of a good life.
I want to live in a world that knows that hurt people hurt people and healed people heal people so we focus on helping folks heal. A world where mean-spirited violence and intolerance are not an option so they get interrupted immediately before they are allowed to take root. I want to live in a world full of self-correcting communities. A world full of folks that hold themselves and each other accountable. And close. A world where no pain goes unprocessed, no fear gets to fester, no greed goes unchecked. A world that understands its own imperfection. A world full of grown folks that know how to get down and children that feel safe enough to discover who they are. A world where creativity is the currency, where prisons are replaced with healing centers and no human potential is pissed away.
I want to live in a world where it is known that to go against any life would be to go against our own. Where it is known that to cause harm to another is to harm ourselves.
How free would we be if we cared that deeply?”
Thank you Chani for putting your prayer/vision/desires into words that we can all benefit from.
Living, Learning and Letting Go 