2011 was a trying year for a lot of us. The US and many other nations are struggling to recover from a Recession, and some nations are entering one. We saw lots of political strife and civil unrest, including the rise of the Occupy Wall Street Movement and increasing police violence against protesters, protests in several Middle Eastern nations that, although peaceful, met with sometimes even worse violence. The push-pull between the Democratic and Republican parties in the US has become more dramatic, and instead of becoming more unified, the world as a whole has become divided.
I’ve been viewing this from two perspectives – as an artist and as a citizen. As an artist, times of strife and unrest are the best times for most artists to produce, because most art is born of tragedy in all its forms. I have written more songs in the last year than in most years previously, born of both my personal strife associated with the events that are occurring in our world and from observing the tragedies of others. It breaks my heart to see it, though, and I often wish I could write songs inspired by joy rather than grief.
As a citizen, I am deeply worried about what is happening to our society. Unification is something I talk about a lot in my private conversations with friends, but I haven’t really been terribly public about my fears and hopes for the world.
My role as a citizen, both of the US and of Earth, is what is driving me right now. I want to ask everyone – religious and political views aside – what is it that you think can help us to work together? My idea is 3C – communication, compromise, and compassion. It is my belief that these three things together can defeat any evil we feel compelled to inflict on one another. These are obvious, and so simple, and yet I feel that so many people don’t use these tools because of their desperate desire not to be fair or to be kind, but to be right.
I am appealing to everyone, anyone and everyone, to find a way to bring positive energy to the world. It doesn’t matter how you do it, when, or where, but every single person has the potential to change something for the better. If you succeed in even bettering one person’s life, however small or big your gesture is, you have bettered the world. You never know what one simple gesture can accomplish. Once, on my way home to Providence from Boston, I encountered two people with a sign advertising free hugs in the T station. I hugged both of them, and on the way home, I thought a lot about how good those hugs made me feel, and how there is still love out there in the world with people still willing to express it. That thought made me feel good, and it also prompted me to think how I could better express positive emotion. Those two hugs touched off a major train of thought – who would have thought?
2012 has a bad reputation. Some people talk about it being the year the world will end, some talk of war or plague coming to destroy us. I don’t want to think of 2012 as that year. I want to think of it as a season of hope, a year of art, beauty, love, kindness, and positive change.
So think about it. Really think hard. You have the power to change the world for the better, right here and now. How will you do it?