Every week I tell myself the world cannot get any more out of control than it is.
And every week, I admit I was wrong the previous week, because the world does indeed get crazier and crazier.
The bizarre outrage among the diverse community of the eternally offended continues to amaze me.
For all the talk about healing the division and hostility in our country, it seems to me there are many who enjoy posting a grievance way too much to get serious about seeking a solution to whatever the issue.
Could we just go back to the not so distant past when entertainment’s goal was to entertain; government’s goal was to govern; education’s goal was to educate; and the church’s goal was to introduce a broken world to the transforming love and grace of the Lord Jesus?
That all sounds neat and tidy, and simple. Everybody knew their job description.
Our world no longer does “simple.”
Briefly recall example number one of the past week.
Gillette, an American success story has made a darn good razor blade since 1901.
Their ingenuity supported the military in WWI, became a household word and masculine symbol of all the best in the 1950s, then found its way to international success expanding its market to include women in the 1970s.
Why, in 2019, did they decide to join the #MeToo movement and alienate 70 percent of their target audience?
Razorblades, guys. Just stick to razorblades.
Then there was the announcement that Gladys Knight, the Empress of Soul, agreed to sing the national anthem at the Super Bowl on February 3.
Enter the chorus of the forever offended.
A certain segment of the population erupted with unhinged fury.
An NPR commentator declares the empress to be “toast” as he predicts that her career is over.
How dare she take part in the Super Bowl, the holy grail of the NFL.
That insensitive organization has yet to give Colin Kaepernick whatever it is the aggrieved quarterback believes he deserves.
He has not been picked up by another NFL team, and he believes his unemployment has everything to do with his activism against the national anthem.
Even in this era of hyper political correctness and popular disdain for America, it is hard for me to believe that no team has extended an offer to Kaepernick solely because of his refusal to stand for the national anthem.
Could it possibly be that Colin Kaepernick is NOT a Peyton Manning or a Tom Brady or a Steve McNair?
Could we even entertain the thought that his lack of employment has less to do with the National Anthem and more to do with his quarterback skills?
But quarterbacks were not my point at all. I wanted to talk about Gladys Knight.
I do love all things Motown. That is my era, and I will still be the first one on a dance floor when the band strikes up “My Girl,” or “Please, Mr. Postman.”
Those tunes take me back to the Indianola Teen Club, the gaudy juke box that required no coins, and the memory of slow dancing with short boys who had doused themselves in their older brother’s “English Leather.”
Gladys is a little older than I am, but I think we would likely be great friends if we got the chance.
Judging by her cool head in the jungle of criticism this past week, she came across as the adult in the room. I loved her immediately.
Of course, she is old and seasoned…like me, I hope.
She is no snowflake. She is who she is, grounded in what she believes, and she is not going to come apart at the seams because the PC Police are on her case.
She is an entertainer, not a professional protester.
Amid all the angry cries to “boycott,” Gladys has been 100% class in her responses.
She is far more articulate about her decision to sing than her critics are about why she should not.
She said in one interview, “It is unfortunate that our national anthem has been dragged into this debate when the distinctive senses of the national anthem and the fighting for justice stand alone.”
She also said she wanted to give the National Anthem back its voice…”to stand for that historic voice of words, the way it unites us when we hear it and to free it from the same prejudices and struggles I have fought long and hard for all my life.”
And she has indeed. Gladys grew up in Atlanta in the late 1940s and 1950s. She got her start singing in church with her brothers and her cousins.
Gladys was there in the early days of the Civil Rights Movement, and she marched with Dr. Martin Luther King in the 1960s.
This lady can remember when there really was a reason to protest better than most anyone who is criticizing her. You go, Gladys. Thank you for speaking truth. I think I will tune in Feb. 3, and I am likely going to stand with my hand over my heart when you sing our song.
Music is the great uniter. An incredible force. Something that people who differ on everything and anything else can have in common. – Sarah Dessen
