Sometimes, the time to do something is just right.
That's what I've come to realize about what we're doing. This is more than a company. It is the consolidation of a vision that has lived in my soul since childhood.
Imagine that you're a little minority kid growing up in Birmingham, Alabama.
Imagine that your family is so poor that it is a major step up when you get to move into a government housing project - a place where everyone else is trying to leave.
Imagine that you're sick. A lot. And that your family environment is unpredictable and abusive.
You got your first job at 10 years old, and started bringing home the bacon. First cut goes to Joe, your mother's husband, for alcohol. You learn to not look him in the eye when he talks to you.
The one chicken you bought to feed a household of ten is cut into 11 pieces (including the neck). Joe eats three pieces - breast, leg, and thigh. You listen to your mom throw up every morning, like clockwork, from drinking too much the night before. You try to avoid the local hoodlums who want to strip you of your money and your bag of groceries. In winter, you use socks to keep your hands warm instead of your feet.
Yet you find things to dream about. You love books, and read everything you can get your hands on. You love music, and build your own radio so that you can listen to it in your room. You love the rain, because it is the only place where you can truly be yourself, and be a kid. You love your family, and do everything you can to help them become the best people they can be. You get to go to a high school for gifted kids, and there, start to discover yourself. And you start to ask yourself, "why did I take a different path than so many others around me?" In a house with drugs on the living room coffee table, you never felt the urge to try it. In a neighborhood where kids started drinking at 10 and having sex at 11, you never took a drink and decided that sex was for love. When the cool guys were selling drugs on the street corner, you were riding an old-fashioned Schwinn bicycle (that was as tall as your shoulders and had a basket on the front big enough for you to sit in -- People laughed in spite of themselves when they saw you), and delivering drugs to the elderly.
And all the while inside, you're driven by a dream. You can't articulate it, but its there. And its not a dream for more money, a cooler house, the latest tennis shoes. Even as a kid, you dreamed of a different world - a world that is less angry and more forgiving, where people communicate more and fight less, where families love each other and neighbors care about each other. A world where its ok to be different, a woman, a minority kid. A world where we look at each other, and truly, see each other. This was inside me, and I knew I wanted to help build this kind of world. This is what I wanted to do with my life.
I don't know if I got this notion from the hundreds of biographies I read, or from the love I received from my grandmother. Or perhaps it was through the kindness of the many people who helped me along the way: The woman who worked in the supermarket deli who would save all the leftover food for my family and sell it to me for a dollar. The old lady who would regularly bring me clothes that she "bought for her grandson/nephew/neighbor", and that were too big/small for them, but fit me perfectly. The teacher who took it upon herself to recommended me to the gifted school. The librarian who ordered special books just for me. The rich Presbyterian church that paid for me to go to Camp Sumatonga for a week - one of the few times I remember being a kid, as a kid. The elderly couple who invited me over to work in their yard, but spent most of the time supplying me with lemonade, homemade cookies and sandwiches larger than anything I'd ever seen.
This was my life. Not the ideal childhood in many respects, but certainly enough hope and love to keep the dream within me alive. And somehow, I came out of all of it with an incredible sense of optimism, and a belief in what life could be, in what the world could become. I don't mention this to garner pity. Just to say that my optimism in what the world can be is not naïve, as it might appear. Quite the contrary. My optimism remains in spite of the challenges rather than due to the lack of them.
Recently, I had surgery and started chemotherapy for cancer that I thought I had beat. But on the other hand, I've never been in better spirits. Life has a way of reminding us that there are no guarantees. And although bad things happen, that's only part of the story. I've seen it. For every abusive family member there is a caring and compassionate stranger. For every broken heart there is a lasting friendship. For every failure there is a triumph, for those willing to stay with it. In spite of it all, life can be amazing. That is what this vision is about. Idealistic? Yes. Naïve? Perhaps. Impossible? Not at all.
My mistake was thinking that I was alone in this. That's not true. There are over 60 million people - about 30% of the population who has undergone similar changes, who have embraced similar values, and who resonate with similar dreams. Most of them are not running governments, heading up movements, or working in non-profits. They are financial analysts who spend their vacation time working at church camps for little boys from Birmingham, AL. They're elderly couples who provide sandwiches and love for the younger generation. They're the deli workers, the librarians, the city schoolteachers who changed the worlds of so many kids like me. They look at the same world that their friends and families see, but they see different things. And believe me, the choices these people make seem counter-intuitive many who know them. For instance, you might be surprised to know that most of the people who went out of their way to help me were white - the exact opposite of what you'd expect from a city who's racist tendencies are legendary. Unfortunately, for the most part, this reputation is earned. But for some people, somewhere along the way, old values were replaced by new values, and life took on a different hue. Different things became important to them, and they feel the need to live out these values, even if those who know and love them do not understand. This is the emerging movement in our world - one driven by a desire for personal growth, social cohesion, and sustainability of the planet. Things that are of nominal concern to others have now become central. Life means different things to them now than it did before. But like me, most of them think they are alone. They don't know that there are so many others like them. They feel isolated, and often, their different values and priorities make them feel out of place and disconnected.
But imagine that we're able to help these individuals realize that they are part of what could be the most significant cultural transformation to happen in the last 500 years. Imagine they start working together to change the world in their own way, but not simply as individuals, but as a movement. This is about synergy - the power of millions of dedicated people, finding each other and becoming a sum that is greater than the parts. We're starting a company that has the power to help rally this massive movement together in a way that could literally transform the world.
We are a company that is using music to support and further the socially conscious movement. We can harness its power to influence the way we see ourselves, others and the world. We can use it to change the mindsets that produce racism, hatred, violence and abuse. We can provide a rallying point for 30% of the population that is highly concerned about creating a better world, but think that they are alone. We can help energize and connect this movement so that they can serve the world. We can help artists with positive messages for the youth of our world to get as much 'air time' as those promoting racism and abuse. We can use music as an educational tool that reaches across all kinds of natural boundaries. We can get the word out in ways that get others to join in, and help the movement grow and it's values spread. These are a few of the things we can do. This movement needs organizations like us, and more than ever, the world needs this movement. A company that uses music to build a movement that can change the world. How's that for a worthy goal?
We need to find people who see what's going on in the world, who can see the good we can do, and who want to be part of making all this happen. Chances are, if they're seeing things from this perspective, they're probably already part of the movement, even if they haven't realized it yet. We're looking for people who have the resources to help make this company happen. Not only financial resources, but network resources, and sheer elbow grease, because we know that we won't do this alone. Nor do we want to. We didn't start the movement. We just want to help build it. We're looking for people who want to build with us.
I've got a friend, a fellow cancer patient, who was fond of saying, "There's no time like the present." He meant that whatever it is you want to do, don't wait. Say it. Be it. Do it now. I saw him live his life like that until the end, and what an amazing life it was. When I found out I was dealing with this again, I asked myself, "Rod, what do you most want to do?" And I realized that the dream I had from the time I was a kid was still what drove me. I still dream a different world - a world that is less angry and more forgiving, where people communicate more and fight less, where families love each other and neighbors care about each other. A world where its ok to be different, be a woman, a minority kid. A world where we look at each other, and truly, see each other. And I realized that no matter what, I want to be part of building this kind of world. Because when it comes to dreams, there's no time like the present.
Sometimes, the time to do something is just right.
