I still remember sitting in my third grade classroom, watching the music video to “Where Is The Love” by the Black Eyed Peas on Friday mornings before class started.
I hummed along to the song, recognizing the tune and chorus from the radio. I grew up listening to that song, and it has always been one of my favorites.
This past Valentine’s Day, I found myself pulling that song out of retirement, playing it on repeat the whole night. Love was in the air, but so was the weight of the tragedy, due to the events that had taken place earlier that same day. I was in shock, like so many other people, knowing well that that could have easily been my school, my friends, or my family in that situation.
But I’m writing this article not to give my two cents on the hate and cruelty in the world around us, but to shine a spotlight on the love in our everyday lives that is easily overlooked.
I recently watched the music video again for “Where Is The Love.” In the video, the group is running around the city, plastering sheets of paper on every street corner, street sign, building, and billboard. The signs were simple, designed as a white question mark against a black background. The papers were everywhere for everyone to see, no matter where they were going or what they were doing, it was plastered in plain view right in front of them.
The question mark on the paper symbolized the question asked throughout the whole song, “where is the love?” and after watching the music video now, eight years later, I have finally figured it out. It is everywhere. We see love through small acts of kindness, a smile to a classmate walking by, a hug from a roommate on a bad day, and most vividly through our friends and family. In the midst of tragedy, this song is so important now more than ever.
Love is everywhere, making its presence known right in front of our eyes, but we are sometimes too distracted by other aspects of our lives that we simply do not notice it.
That same night when replaying the song over and over, I found myself listening to the lyrics more carefully than I ever had.
“People killing, people dying.
Children hurt and you hear them crying.
Will you practice what you preach?
And would you turn the other cheek?
Father, father, father help us,
Send some guidance from above.
These people got me, got me questioning.
Where is the love?”
Just the chorus sends chills down my spine, because it is more relevant now than it ever was when it was released eight years ago. There has always been hate in the world, some occasions being more prevalent than others. Truly listening and understanding the lyrics has made me realize that we need now more than anything is love.
So ask yourself, where is the love in your life?
