Stories of racism and violence attracted my attention this week (as y’all saw in an earlier blog). It is a sad thing when we, as a people, make the decision that these types of things are just “OK”. By that I mean, when we see these things happen, when we read that these things happen, and all we do is shrug our shoulders, purse our lips and say “That’s shameful” and then that’s it.

I’m guilty of this indifference just as much as anyone else … and for some reason on this sunny Sunday morning it is weighing heavily on my heart.

This begs the question, “What should we do about it? What can we do about it? Is there anything that we can do about it?” I don’t know the answer to that. Perhaps the answer is “Just do something that is within your power.”

Last night, after the kids went to bed, I broke out “I Am Legend” starring Will Smith. In the last half of the movie, his character (Robert Nevell) speaks with another survivor about Bob Marley. Bob Marley’s music is played a number of times through out the movie and during this particular conversation Nevell explains what Bob did to fight against evil in the world. He said:

“He had this idea. It was kind of a virologist idea. He believed that you could cure racism and hate… literally cure it, by injecting music and love into people’s lives. When he was scheduled to perform at a peace rally, a gunman came to his house and shot him down. Two days later he walked out on that stage and sang. When they asked him why – He said, “The people, who were trying to make this world worse… are not taking a day off. How can I? Light up the darkness.“

That, my friends, I believe is our task. That is what we can and must do. Racists and those who act on prejudice in our world and seek to do evil don’t take days off. Racists and those who would promote evil don’t take breaks. We can’t take breaks either. We must do what we can to spread our message of hope, our message of love everyday.

So, let’s teach our children how to laugh. Let’s teach our children how to play. Let’s teach our children how to take the best of what we are and increase it. Let’s teach our children how to love. Let’s teach our children how to love one another. Let’s teach our children how to sing. Let’s teach our children how to have respect for one another. Let’s teach our children how to live as one. Let’s teach our children to Light Up the Darkness.

I suggest that should be our legend. Light Up the Darkness.