Just recently I heard a commercial that had a theme song playing throughout its entirety. I had initially tuned the commercial out, but when I heard the chorus, I immediately began to pay attention to the lyrics of the song. The singer – very passionately, I might add – sang about overcoming and pushing through all of the people that stand in her way or that try to keep her down. It was a powerful song, so it's easy to see how this would be an encouragement to stand up for ourselves and what we believe in. But, for the remainder of the song I couldn’t help but think …

Who is it that’s against you?

A growing trend I’ve observed from song writers (and other celebrities/media) is that they always have to fight against and overcome certain people/groups that are trying to stop them from being successful. Now, if there are indeed people trying to keep others from being successful, then pushing through and overcoming is admirable. However, when I look around at our society, I truly don’t see the blatant display of negativity that these artists are supposedly fighting against.

Don’t get me wrong, I know there are ignorant, disrespectful, selfish, nasty people who do try to upend anything positive that others attempt to do. But those people certainly don't make up the majority. In fact, as I look around at our communities right now, I see quite the opposite from what the media portrays. In all honesty, I feel a growing sense that people are trying to come together like never before to bridge social, economic and political gaps in our society.

But, as I watch and listen to what news outlets, celebrities and mainstream media are presenting, the narrative seems to paint a picture of a dark, mean and ugly world. Those aforementioned entities suggest that there is currently severe racial unrest, that people of differing beliefs hate each other, that inequality is the norm and that our country is coming apart at the seams. For all intents and purposes, if we listen to that narrative, it seems as though our world is imploding …

Except that it’s not.

When we sit at home, in our office or in our car and merely soak in all of the negativity that the news and media outlets (the left and the right, by the way) feed us, it’s incredibly easy to buy into the narrative that the world is perpetually at war. It’s incredibly easy to get caught up in the drama that the media is pushing and begin to view people as friend or foe rather than fellow human beings.

Sure, there are racists, there are bigots, there are fear-mongers, there are divisive and hateful people. But that has always been the case since the dawn of time. So, positioning this as a new or more threatening reality is arrogant and pretentious. Because the narrative that the world is predominantly made up of such people, or that the number of those people is growing exponentially, is just false.

How do I know this?

Because I repeatedly experience the exact opposite when I engage with people in our supposedly dark and hopeless world.

I worked in a middle school where kids of all colors, ethnicities and backgrounds would sit at the same lunch tables, laughing and talking with one another. I worked in an elementary school where kids didn’t even seem to notice the differences present, but instead talked with and hung out with other kids because of their similarities. I worked alongside counselors and school staff of nearly every kind of background and belief, and I was continually met with professionalism and mutual respect. I was welcomed into many inner-city homes and embraced for what I was trying to do with the children, not judged or treated negatively because of my differing race or value systems.

Just the other day I watched a video involving a man of color being interviewed in regard to his creation of a white history month. Yes, you heard that right. Needless to say, this made me laugh … like, a lot. But his reason for doing so wasn’t simply to be humorous or to take a dig at those who care about and want to honor their heritage. His intent for creating this holiday was to highlight the discrepancy between the media’s narrative and reality.

Because, the truth is, our world is not the dark and hateful place that the current narrative is leading us to believe. There is pain, there are wars, there is inequality, and there is exploitation. But there are also people pulling together to better our communities; people of differing races/ethnicities living peacefully together; people forgiving and reconciling; and there are people loving one another simply because we are all human beings.

Reality is vastly different from the narrative.

So, my challenge this week is pretty simple and straight-forward. And that is to intentionally interact with the people that we come across. Instead of assuming that the neighbor across the street with ‘that political sign’ hates us because our political views are different, let’s instead engage him/her in honest conversation. Instead of believing that the words of certain celebrities or politicians reflect the whole, let’s converse with others and discover the truth for ourselves. Instead of focusing on the negativity and despair heard in mainstream media, let’s instead celebrate – with our brothers from other mothers and sisters from other misters – the huge strides we’re making in the pursuit of freedom, equality and prosperity.

And as we do so, may our eyes be opened to the reality that, despite some very real difficulties we experience in this life, our world is still full of beauty and positivity … people can still be good … and we can still live happily and peacefully with one another.