DIVA

For decades artists have recorded a social commentary in the form of hits, tracks and albums. We have all had that moment when getting into a car or walking into a room and one of our favourites tunes comes on and both our mind and body react. The lyrics awaken all manner of emotions and feelings whether that be romance, reflection or empowerment. When we react so positively to the lyrics of a song, as if in total agreement with the message offered by the artist or songwriter, why do we seem so reluctant to transpose these positive messages into our actions and everyday life? Particularly in terms of empowerment, tolerance and kindness.

In 1985 two formidable females Aretha Franklin and Annie Lennox belted out the following lines, “Now this is a song to celebrate, the conscious liberation of the female state, mothers, daughters and their daughters too, woman to woman we’re singin’ with you.” You may very well have tapped your foot to this, hummed along or taken to the dancefloor, arms aloft celebrating every line. Sadly as a social demographic we have subconsciously added lines to the song such as ‘we’ll use social media to criticise, embarrass and shame you if you become too confident or too beautiful, or in some cases for absolutely no reason at all. We’ll criticise your size, your hair colour and your ethnicity’ . At some point, as women particularly, we lose the passion aroused in us by lyrics such as these and instead of celebrating strong, successful women we attack them and try to deflate their dreams as opposed to raising them up beyond expectation. I hold my hands up and admit somewhat shamefully that I know I have done this at some point, even if that means just chuckling in agreement.

The same is true of quotes that we might read in novels, see displayed on posters or in our news feeds on Social Media. If you’re like me then you might ‘share’ or copy and paste these in a post, confirming your commitment to the message encapsulated in the words or phrase; almost like a personal mission statement for how you intend to conduct yourself in future.

‘If you can choose to be anything at all then choose to be kind’ - this is, and will always been one of my favourite quotes and I am certain that as you read this you are bringing your very own mantra to mind. After celebrating our agreement with the message on social media how often do we proactively act it out? In reality we should always choose to be kind, to lift up those around us and share our good fortune, but, in the modern world this is often lost or forgotten, sometimes as quickly as the time it took us to ‘share’.

So the next time you sing along with impassioned commitment or hit ‘like’ and nod with agreement to the message on your screen, make sure that it stays with you and as Gandhi said, “Be the change that you wish to see in the world”... As opposed to just pinning it to your office or bedroom wall.