Did you see the story that the “Indian River ritual turns deadly?” I thought for a fleeting moment that the story was about kids tossing oranges off of bridges onto oncoming traffic in Florida. Instead it was about a crowd of worshipers in India crushing people that were asleep on river banks as the crowd was trying to get to the river for ritual bathing. Would you believe that 450 million people attended the ritual over a six week period? That’s greater than the population in the US and a bit more than a third of all Indians. Amazing.
Speaking of amazing, Stevie Wonder is going to perform at FireAid, the fundraiser for the victims of the LA fires. Welcome back! He is looking good and I have missed his music. His last studio album was “A Time for Love” released ten years ago. Prince helped out on “What the Fuss?” India Aire and Paul McCartney are on “A Time for Love.” It is a wonderful album but not quite up to Talking Book, Innervisions, Songs in the key of Life, Music of my Mind, or Fullfillingness First Finale.
But what puzzles me is that Wonder renounced his citizenship and became a citizen of Ghana. Why he would want to be a citizen of the country that put his African ancestors in cages and sold them to white slavers for shipment around the world is beyond me. If he were disenchanted with the United States then why did he write “Positivity”?
Positivity
Stevie Wonder
Some people ask me why always on the bright side
When there’s so much going on down the other side
It’s like I live in a bubble with no trouble
And problems don’t exist
I chuckle and tell them that ain’t the case at all
It goes way back to the time when I was very small
Not in mind but size and age my papa use to say
You can always look at the negative
But you should always live in the positive
So I try everyday to live that way
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Some people live in what was and what they could have been
As opposed to living in a what is and how much they can
And be the first to complain about nothing in life going their way
The attitude is “that I can’t do nothing ’bout”
And very happy with just breathing in and out
The ones that when you say “lets go make a difference”
They’ll say “naw that’s OK”
So I don’t waste time on the trip side
‘Cause I do know the real on the flipside
And I’m crystal clear everyday that’s why I say, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
When I see the morning
And the sun is smiling down upon me
I joy in the blessing
That still the ground is not above me
And for the people
That I can truly say do love me, I feel
Positivity, ’cause that’s what life’s meant to be
Positivity, ’cause this day did not have to be
Some ask me why I’m such an optimist
When it’s more fashionable be a pessimist
From what’s in seventy-five percent of what we read, hear and view
Well I use to have a friend named Minnie Riperton
Who use to always say when she was living
“Like fine wine I like seeing the glass of life as half full than half empty”
I’m saying sometimes life can’t be rough
But never to the point of me saying I’ve had enough
Long as my heart beats I ain’t giving up
That’s why I say everyday
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
When people ask me as an African American
What do I see for tomorrow in the human plan?
Is it possible for all the people of the world to co-exist?
I say unity is only as big as our vision
And if its narrow, try to expand beyond the horizon
But true leaders must guide us through the ills of society
That stands in our way
So if the road is to harmony, be with the call
But if its about discord, don’t take the ride at all
‘Cause the world vision I see is the one-we for everybody
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
When I see the morning
And the sun is smiling down upon me
Just joy in the blessing
That still the ground is not above me
And for the people
That you can truly say do love you, do feel
Positivity, ’cause that’s what life’s meant to be
Positivity, and that’s the energy the world needs
Positivity, ’cause that’s what life means to me
Positivity, ’cause this day did not have to be
Positivity, ’cause that’s what life’s meant to be
Positivity, ’cause that’s the energy the world needs
Positivity, ’cause that’s what life’s meant to be
Positivity, and this day did not have to be
Positivity, ’cause that’s what life means to me
Positivity, and that’s the energy the world needs
Positivity, ’cause that’s what life’s meant to be
Positivity, and that’s the energy the world needs
Read the words. Better yet listen to the song. I have used clips of it in various speeches. In fact “You can always look at the negative. But you should always live in the positive” sounds like a quote from my father about surviving in the Jim Crow south.
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