In the face of the horrific news from Colorado today, I wanted to offer this diary as a counterpoint with the simple idea that Love is Patient and Love is Kind. These words from the Bible (1Cor 13:4-7). The full quote is:
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
I was reminded of this passage while listening to an absolutely beautiful and stunning song released this week by a hip hop artist from Seattle. The song is called SAMELOVE and as you might surmise was about the subject of marriage equality. Follow over the fold to be introduced to this beautiful soul and his music and I'll explore why the adage is relevant as a perspective on the carnage we heard about today. It is not about discussing the carnage but resetting our minds and spirits towards the necessary conditions for peace.
The artist's moniker is "Macklemore" was born Ben Haggerty is like many "rappers" a poet influenced by life. Many people have dismissed hip hop as a legitimate genre often because of very negative connotations including violence, misogyny, crass materialism and homophobia. There was the East coast versus West coast rivalry that seemed to revel in who could appear more thuggish. But an interesting thing is happening in my city - Seattle. The rap and hip hop that is thriving here is driven by a different ethic. It's driven by a love of community and knowledge and strong spirit of collaboration. It is a community of artisans of music, cinematography, poetry, and beats putting out product that makes you think and sings to the heart. In addition to Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Seattle is also home to the Blue Scholars another nationally upcoming group.
So imagine my thrill when I discovered that Macklemore had released this single called SAMELOVE. It was written in tribute to his two uncles who are gay and dedicated to the general principle that Love is patient, Love is Kind. This forms the refrain to this song. I invite you to take a listen to it. I'll bet you'll find it stunning. Afterwards, I'll sample a few more of this remarkable young man's talents.
You can read Macklemore's statement about his motivation for writing this piece here.
The purpose of my writing this diary and to play this song was to remind everyone that it is Love that is going to move us forward. I think it is the fundamental difference in approaches to national politics we have been seeing. We can have our differences with the President over his priorities, his methods and his accomplishments, but at the end of the day, I remain convinced that Barack Obama is motivated by love. Love of country, love of the American People and the fundamental concept that we are all our brothers and sisters keeper. A love that is patient, a love that is kind.
Seattle is an internationally known city famous for jet airplanes, coffee, software, biotech and a large seaport among other things. It's a good size metro with about 4.4 million people. But Seattle is also enough of a small city where when a "local boy" makes good, we each take a bit of small town pride. Macklemore is one such person. Here he is in a video produced by visual artist/director Zia Mohajerjasbi called "The Town".
One of the recurring themes in Macklemore's music is a critique of materialism. Here are two videos that explore this theme. The first is a recasting of "Fake Empire" from the group the National. Macklemore's creative partner Ryan Lewis was the producer of this film.
The second video is a very high value production again by Zia Mohajerjasbi of Macklemore's "Wings" about his love of basketball and the spectre of materialism around famous shoes.
There is much more to his repertoire but I'll leave off with a couple of fun pieces. One a silly concert gig and the other a touching look at ethnic pride that made me, an African American tear up. Thanks for spending time with this diary and I hope it has uplifted you as it was intended.
First the silly one - And We Danced
And lastly - Irish Celebration.