Keep It Loose...

"Keep It Loose, Keep It Tight"
-Amos Lee

Well I walked over the bridge
Into the city where I live,
And I saw my old landlord.
Well we both said hello,
There was no where else to go,
'cuz his rent I couldn't afford.

Well relationships change,
Oh I think it's kinda strange,
How money makes a man grow.
Some people they claim,
If you get enough fame,
You live over the rainbow.
Over the rainbow..

But the people on the street,
Out on buses or on feet,
We all got the same blood flow.
Oh, in society,
Every dollar got a deed,
We all need a place so we can go,
And feel over the rainbow.

But sometimes,
We forget what we got,
Who we are.
Oh who are are not.
I think we gotta chance,
To make it right.
Keep it loose,
Keep it tight.
Keep it tight.

I'm in love with a girl,
Who's in love with the world,
Though I can't help but follow.
Though I know some day,
She is bound to go away,
And stay over the rainbow.
Gotta learn how to let her go.
Over the rainbow.

Sometimes we forget who we got,
Who they are.
Oh, who they are not.
There is so much more in love,
Than black and white.
Keep it loose child,
Gotta keep it tight.
Keep it loose child,
Keep it tight.

Keep it tight,
Keep it tight,
Yaa..

I love this song, and it seems to really be applying lately. Due to my latest new job I have been forced (thankfully) to think about what i think it means to "love everybody". Now this is an easy phrase to recite in school, church, or in conversation. But so hard to really live to the fullest. So often I think I have told myself and others that I am/strive to love everybody, but what I really mean is that I will love everybody from afar. Yes, I'll love the liar as long as he doesn't lie to me, I will love the homeless, as long as I doesn't mean he's on my property, I will love the ill, as long as I don't have to care for them...so on and so forth. Loving from a distance means loving people in theory, but not loving them personally, not actually surrounding yourself with them.

I have learned a huge lesson in loving, even if it is just in a very specific sense. I marvel at the things I learn and the feelings I feel when instead of worrying about how being around someone who has made poor choices may effect me worrying about how I can just show them love. Not condone what they have or haven't done but listen with out judgment and give all the love I have. I understand the logic of surrounding yourself with people who have made good choices, but in the last few months I have also learned that to truly love someone you must be with them, love right there next to them, not from a far.

Love is more than a recital to proclaim your "goodness" it is action.

"Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something" -Thoreau

All this time I thought I was helping them, but really they are helping me far more