Last week with the official kickoff of summer for some reason I thought it would be a good time to listen to the song Summertime. The song was originally composed in 1934 for the opera Porgy and Bess and has been sung by many artist across several decades sharing the theme that fish are jumpin’ the cotton is high and the livin’ is easy. As I reflected on the words of the song it prompted me to share my thoughts in my article for this week. I asked myself are the words relevant for what we are experiencing in the world today? It’s summertime and is the livin’ really easy?
When the song Summertime originally came out in the mid 1930’s it was during a decade of economic downfall known as the Great Depression. The decade prior was known as the Roaring 20’s when people lived high on the hog so to speak, but yet people of color were still suffering. Then came the crash of Wall Street in 1929 and the entire country had to rebuild. As I continued to look at others who sang Summertime such as the great Sam Cooke who was popular in the late 1950’s and into the 1960’s which was also a time of chaos and change.History has summarized the 1960’s as the decade of cultural and world political trends, as well as the Civil Rights era here in the United States. Hope was restored and new beginnings were realized here and abroad.
As I reflect on where the world is today with all of the racial divide that still exist, with the complexities of our political system, with the economic disparities and even global division around BREXIT it could look very daunting if summertime is going to be a time of living easy. One constant in all of life is that nothing stays the same. Generation after generation will each experience their own highs and lows of life and none of us knows for certain what the future holds (although some at least know Who holds the future). When history is written about this decade our children and our children’s children will look back at it and romanticize about the ͞good old days͟ or say our ancestors were simply nuts!
So as my thoughts go back to the words of the song, I am reminded that summer is a great time to relax and enjoy family and friends. It is also a good time to get away and explore people, places and things you haven’t been able to make time for during the rest of the year. Trouble will be with us always, but we won’t always have time to spend with our loved ones. This summer can be the perfect time to plan a family reunion and reflect on your family history. If there’s someone in your family that has served as the official or even unofficial historian share the legacy of your family and plant seeds for the next generation. If no one has kept track of your family history then now is a perfect time to get started!
The next few months will continue to throw all of us curve balls with the Presidential election coming up in November and with the restructuring of the economic system on the global level due to BREXIT, so we might as well just relax and drink lemonade and iced tea real slow. Our parents, grandparents and great grandparents made it through and so will we. It’s up to us to make life and living as easy as possible. When I moved to Los Angeles in 1979 to attend UCLA I was attending Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church under the leadership of Pastor Dr. E. V. Hill. He used to always say, ͞don’t let your highs be too high and don’t let your lows be too low.͟I think this is pretty good advice any time of the year.
Healing Without Hate: It’s a choice. It’s a lifestyle. Pass it on!
Visit www.WendyEnterprises.com and www.forgivingforliving.org. Wendy is a coach, consultant and speaker. You may email her at wendy@wendyenterprises.com. Wendy is featured on Radio Free 102.3 KJLH on Front Page with Dominique DiPrima Thursday Mornings @ 4:30am.
