A quick reminder. I'm being kept pretty busy at the moment, so I haven't had time to read anything today. This diary was scheduled in advance, so if you're reading this sentence, it's probably because I was so tired, I fell into bed the moment I got home. I'll check comments when I wake up tomorrow.
Feel free to share what you're reading. I should be back tomorrow.
I don't follow pop culture, not least of which the music. For the most part, I find it vacuous drivel. But occasionally something from there manages to break through my assumptions and slap me in the face.
If you've been watching the videos I've included in the diaries this week, you've seen one of those moments. This is an amazing story, and it's stories exactly like this which keep me going, despite my darkest thoughts.
Here we have one of the most popular of pop artists, Lady GaGa (a name I never thought I'd type), who wrote a song specifically about equality. A song that equates the fight for LGBT equality with the fight for racial/ethnic equality. And then a 10 year old girl named Maria (who just happens to have a frickin' amazing voice) does a cover of it and posts it on Youtube. In just a few days, it's got millions of hits, and she's being interviewed on a local radio station. They ask her why she did the cover for it, and she says she liked the message.
And then Lady GaGa calls in.
Imagine if you will, that you are ten years old. You have done something that has achieved a great deal of attention in a field you enjoy. So much attention that you get interviewed on a radio show. And then someone you admire and possibly idolize in that field calls in to talk to you. If you can imagine that, you can probably begin to imagine Maria's feelings at this point.
Lady GaGa tells Maria that she expected the song to be ripped by people. And then she saw Maria singing this song. She tells Maria that she was having a bad day, but when she saw Maria singing, that made her day.
Again, imagine you are 10 years old. You're talking with someone you greatly admire. And they're telling you that the thing you did because you admire that person is what made their day.
Lady GaGa and Maria sing a short duet. Then, Maria mentions that she'll be at Lady GaGa's upcoming show. And here is where I'd like to take a dramatic pause, because this is the moment when the story could end. Lady GaGa could say she looks forward to Maria's attendance. She could say she'll watch for her in the crowd. She could offer to upgrade the tickets to front row seats or even a back stage pass. There are any number of standard things she could offer Maria. But she doesn't do any of those.
Instead, she asks Maria to sing with her on stage.
Back when I was ten, I still wanted to be an astronaut. If any astronaut had asked me at that time if I would join them on a ride in the shuttle, you would have had to kill me to prevent me from going. Even then, I may have made a special exception and come back from the grave. I can't even imagine the thought of saying no in a situation like that. So when Maria says yes, she'll sing with Lady GaGa, I admit the moment resonates within me.
This gets all sorts of attention, and Maria finds herself being interviewed on talk shows. The one I shared last night is with Ellen DeGeneres. These are both personal and societal moments. Personal in that here is a little ten year old girl who's become a celebrity. Maybe this will be her 15 minutes. Maybe this will lead to something greater. But here and now, it's about her. Societal in that it's about the message of the song. Because in the interviews, she sings it again and again. And millions of people hear this ten year old girl sing a song about equality for everyone. Again and again, they hear a message of equality for everyone.
And so that brings us to the final chapter, which you can watch below. Maria and Lady GaGa sing that song together on stage. Live. And the cheering of the crowd nearly drowns them out at times. This is the power of a little girl who understood the message of a song. A girl who identified with that message. And people love her for it.
Young people today, in middle school through high school, are listening to these songs. They sing them over and over. And this song is one of them. They are growing up listening to a message of equality for all, and they not only accept it, but love it.
There will be equality for LGBTs. There will be equality for women, and African Americans, and Asians. There will be equality. It may take until Maria's generation is old enough to hold elected office before the laws recognize it, but it will come. And so our job, here and now, is to take every step forward that we can. Every inch. Just as our parents and grandparents and so on throughout the generations. Each step leads to something greater. Something better. Giving up would be an act of betrayal to those who come after us.
If there's an epilogue to Maria's story, it either hasn't been written yet, or I haven't found it. But the epilogue to the story of this song is all but fated. We have only to see it through.
A Perfect Conversation is a group for republishing diaries that:
A) Challenge the DK conventional wisdom.
B) Provide information which may lead to new ideas.
or
C) Push for action that is innovative or not just playing defense.
The point is not to agree (or disagree) with these diaries. It's about challenging ourselves to rethink our political philosophies, activities, and issue positions.
I'm still out, so no diaries republished or recommended. Again, my apologies.
Chapter 4 - Finale