Life Lessons from Pop Music
I have been fortunate enough in this life to have earned the trust and respect (and maybe even the admiration) of more people than I would have ever thought likely. I'm very grateful for that, and humbled by it. As a result, it becomes increasingly tempting to cling to and conserve that goodwill, both for my own selfish reasons and because to do otherwise seems ungracious to those who have extended it. The temptation is to avoid taking any stand, advancing any cause, or doing anything that may make someone respect me less. And, in particular, to avoid statements or actions that might cause others to feel compelled to choose between their respect for me and their own position on an issue.
But goodwill is not an end, it's a means. When pursued directly it becomes a wasting and useless asset--one that does nothing but puff up ego for a time. Only by expending goodwill for worthy causes does it do anyone other than myself any good.
I learned that lesson a while back from the unlikeliest of sources--a video by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis (which came to my attention thanks to the lovely Katie B.)
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If you allow the thoughts of others to dictate your actions in life, you're gonna have a bad time. Be you, be authentic, forget the noise.
I hope your friends, even the ones who strongly disagree with you, will be intelligent enough to work through the cognitive dissonance caused by their trust and respect for you conflicting with their own beliefs and values. That process just might put their beliefs and values under more scrutiny to change for the better.
Hi! This post has a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of 10.5 and reading ease of 57%. This puts the writing level on par with Michael Crichton and Mitt Romney.
Same Love is fantastic. And pretty bold for an artist who was just breaking out internationally. I use music with my high school students all the time. I'm writing a similar series about pop culture. If you are interested, please check it out.
Without people who do what you are doing, Steemit would rapidly devolve into a perfect echo chamber, where people are only told what they want to hear.
I just thought of something else. I remember seeing Macklemore on The Colbert Report. It was right when "Thrift Shop" was on the charts. So obviously he came on to play "Thrift Shop". Nope he did Same Love with Mary Lambert live. It was amazing (and pretty badass to say "F you. I'm not playing my hit. I'm making a statement").
Keep up the great work @sean-king
Upvoted
Good stuff. You touch on why a lot of people that have gotten to a certain point don't take stands and fight for change -- the risk/reward simply isn't deemed to be worth it. It takes a much more selfless approach to justify it for the special people.
I apologize about the downvotes I was on the war path. You shouldn't have any downvotes now.
Thank you. I have only downvoted a couple of yours. You can't call someone a shit head and expect not to be downvoted. :-)
Were you working in Busan at the time?
No, we did an international adoption. You can see her @claraking. She's beautiful!
We plan to visit Korea with her before she is 16. She's 13 now, so...soon.