Moved by the Music Monday #1

So, I feel like more than anything else, music speaks to me. It always has. I've always been drawn to a song that has a beautiful, poetic way of getting the message across. I love when I can hear and experience so much meaning from a simple song lyric...just a small line that says so much more than meets the eye...or the ear in this case ;) Even when God is trying to get through to me he often does so through music! I figure I cannot be the ONLY person that this is the case for, so I decided to start sharing some of the music and lyrics that speak to me the most and I would absolutely LOVE to hear what music is moving you all as well!

For the past few months I've been dying to watch Pocahontas. Yes, the animated Disney film... It all started when I went hiking with my friend Anthony and for fun I started singing the song, "The Colors of the Wind." But the more I sang it the more I listened to the words I was singing and the more I realized that Disney people are genius! The lyrics in that song are so insightful and thought provoking and so much more than a silly sing along in a kids movie! Anyways. I kept wanting to watch but could not for the life of me come across the movie. Until my Amazon friends hooked me up with a Roku (internet streamer) for my birthday and BAM access to anything I EVER wanted to watch.

Of course I watched Pocahontas first. And therefore her wisdom has earned the space in my very first Moved by the Music Monday.

While the entire movie is chalk  full of intense themes and messages, the one that ALWAYS stands out to me is the song, "Colors of the Wind." Probably why it's one of the most famous Disney songs of ALL times...perhaps?

BUT my ALL TIME FAVORITE LINE IS THIS....

"You think the only people who are people, are the people who look and think like you. But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger, you'll learn things you never knew you never knew."

Come on people...that's BRILLIANT! And so beautifully put!

Of course at face value this is in reference to the Native American/English battle centuries ago, but the theme rings true for ALL people for ALL time! 

As humans it's so easy to get caught up in our own little worlds, especially here in the US. We are so often so isolated from and ignorant to the wide world and vast array of peoples that exist outside of our borders and ourselves! And when we do finally open our eyes and recognize that they are there, we are so very quick to judge and make assumptions about them and build more walls than bridges between us and them. 

This is just a sad but very true fact about our culture that I've had to come to terms with. But, I'm doing everything in my own power to make this fact untrue in my own case. 

Pocahontas (or rather whoever wrote the song that Pocahontas sings) said it best when she says in so many words that even people different from yourself are people and they are just as valuable as your own kind. After all, humans ARE your own kind. 

I want to spend my life doing my very best to walk in the footsteps of other people. To understand where they are coming from and why they live and behave and react in the ways that they do before I make any false judgments or assumptions about them. Because until I take the time to understand their point of view and value their personhood, ANY assumption I make, while it may not be entirely false, will be unfounded and unfair. I for one do NOT want to be known for such things. 

I may not be in tune with the rainstorm and the river and I may not call the Haring and the Otter my friends, BUT I am more than willing to look past people's appearances and to dig below their surfaces to find the very richness that makes them who they are. 

Happy listening!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkV-of_eN2w

What music is moving you this Monday?