I had been considering what to write in this first blog of 2017 when Roger James (my husband and business partner) showed me this 32-years-ago video.
It sings everything I want to say with one slight yet significant addition. In addition to giving money to the causes we care about, let’s start giving by listening deeply to each other with empathy and compassion, especially to those who differ from us in race, gender, ideology, class, and sexual orientation. Let’s start talking with people with whom we normally don’t interact. Let’s work hard to understand how they see the world and how they came to see it the way they do. Let’s start talking in ways that enable us to find common ground and move forward together.
There’s “just you and me” to make the difference in 2017. As I wrote in Talk Matters! “The future is not a place we’re being driven to; it’s a place we have the opportunity to create through our interactions.” And, as sung by these artists in 1985, “There’s a choice we’re making. We’re saving our own lives.”
May your presence be a blessing to others in 2017.
Mary V. Gelinas
Mary’s book “Talk Matters! Saving the World One Word at a Time” is now available. Click here to purchase it.