A week ago I concluded my month long commitment to re-post songs from the fantastic 30 Days 30 Songs initiative, instituted by Dave Eggers, across my social media platforms.
It was an interesting month made up of hits and misses and I wanted to let the results sink in a bit before I weighed in on them here.
At the end of the day, that small act was just a drop in the ocean. Some posts received multiple comments, likes, shares etc. while others went ignored. I found that the posts with more recognizable names behind the songs got more love, which is definitely understandable and what I could have predicted.
What I found most interesting is that during the month I didn’t find myself caring as much about those likes and shares, or lack of them, as I thought I would. Taking the time, once each day for a month, to really listen to a song, to read the accompanying notes as to why that song was selected as a part of the project and, many times, diving in deep to learn more about the artist and other songs they had done, was much more of a reward than the social media acceptance of the post itself. The likes were the cherries on top, the afterthoughts…
What was also interesting is that my personal facebook page became politicized on a regular basis for the first time, something I am still working through, and I found that during the month I really needed to focus on posting other material to help balance out what could have easily just turned into another anti-Trump hate site. Focusing so much on the negativity around this administration and, let’s face it, the negativity in many of the songs pointed at this administration, I had to go in search of good news stories to help give myself a sense of balance.
Not to sound too trite, but part of being a part of any resistance is to remember the positive things you are fighting for.
“Part of a resistance” – even I snicker at those words… so easily and potentially read as those of us choosing to raise our voices making ourselves out to be something out of the movies, or the history books.
But I think I would speak for many that that is exactly the reason we are doing this – to be a part of those history books.
No matter what happens on a daily basis now – and there may yet be many more terrible things – we KNOW that there will be a day where history will judge this time period and those who acted in it. History always judges and there will be one side who is on the wrong side of history.
I have faith in that future generation.
Globalization and multiculturalism will not be stopped. Human Rights will progress. Old racist people will die and the generation they leave behind them will be a slightly smaller generation of small-minded racists, and so on and so forth until the number of racists left will not be able to hold any executable power in society.
I have to believe this is the path humanity will go down and when those future generations look at the actions we took now, I know I want to be on the side that DID something. That SAID something.
30 Days and 30 Songs was just the start and I will continue to be a voice for what I believe is right. It’s been said that “Opinions are like arseholes – everybody’s got one.”
My specific posts and my specific opinions may not make any material difference at all. But then again, they might. I will continue to echo those with bigger microphones than mine and who knows, I may develop a powerful microphone of my own.
Action is better than inaction. Reading, Listening and Contributing is better than Reading and Listening on their own.
There are so many drops in this ocean that will never be heard, felt or thought about, but without all the drops it ceases to be an ocean at all.