Michael Franti: Stay Human!

"Stay Human" is an expression that I began using a while back to combat what I have seen as a growing attack on the souls of loving individuals on this sweet, sweet planet of ours.
In my Grandmother's lifetime she saw the coming of age of the electric light, the radio, the television, the automobile, the video game, the VCR, the computer and the Spice Girls. And along with these wondrous inventions she saw World wars I and II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, police brutality, racism, famine, pollution and destruction of the environment.
How did we go from a natural wonderland on this planet to a place where you cannot drink the water , and where each individual soul is given a number. As much as I love the internet, it is still a place reserved for the privileged one percent of the world's population who have access to a computer. For much of the world computers, corporate power, greed, television, pollution, genetic modification, exploitation of labor, racism, and prisons, all go hand in hand. All of these things tend to have the lasting effect of further distancing our souls from our minds and bodies. Ultimately, compassion and caring for others vanishes, and in their place come envy, jealousy, greed and cynicism.
It is my belief that we are spiritual beings learning to live in a human form, not the other way around. In the words of my comrade Perry Farrell "There have been two great unifying forces in the world, War and professional wrestling...( no not really! ) the other is music." And today we are in a war against war...music is our power.
Through music we can, reconnect, mind body and spirit. And reconnect individual souls to the ONE soul. The ONE that makes us and the Universe complete. We each have our own ways of getting there which are to be equally respected and cherished, but we are all longing and reaching for the ONE.
In this struggle sometimes the toughest thing to do is to not be controlled by all the dehumanizing forces that are out there. Sometimes the hardest thing is to just laugh, cry, scream, dance shake, moan, sigh, make love, breathe, fart, follow your dreams or whatever. Sometimes the hardest thing is to simply STAY HUMAN!!!!!
Michael Franti