Love Is Alive and Well! I Saw It!
In a time when it feels as if new atrocities greet us at every turn
I want to take a moment to tell you about something beautiful, uplifting, and truly inspiring that I experienced this last Saturday.
-------------------------------
In Downtown LA, there is an area called "Skid Row."
This area of town has the largest homeless population in the city, and this past Saturday, it became home for the "Skid Row Carnival of Love."
This MASSIVE event was a block-wide carnival, with a thousand volunteers offering loving aide to the population of Skid Row.
Throughout the day the block was alive with
positivity, hugs, laughter, dancing, music and joy.
4,000 of Skid Row's residents were guided by volunteers to stations where they could get
clean clothes, showers, haircuts, massages, medical care, hot meals and career counseling, completely free of charge.
One whole section of the block was devoted to the many children in attendance,
with free toys, face painting, clowns, acrobats, mural painting stations and carnival games.
I was fortunate enough to get to volunteer as a singing clown at this incredible event,
and I was given the gift of being able to offer songs to those waiting in line to enter.
It's an experience I'll never forget.
I witnessed people desperate to be heard and seen finally finding someone to listen to their story and look them in the eye.
I saw men and women who some might be afraid to walk near on the streets receiving warm hugs and being offered a swing dance partner.
I saw kids who don't have a place to live playing with brand new toys with Christmas-day joy.
I saw thousands of people of every age, race, gender, creed and class eating lunch together, enjoying each other's company, laughing and talking.
I experienced the beauty of the human species when it chooses loving connection over fearful isolation.
And you want to know the best part???
HUNDREDS OF VOLUNTEERS were turned away,
because there just wasn't enough space for them all.
So many people showed up to help that they were actually at capacity with just volunteers.
So many people wanted to do good in this world that there just wasn't enough physical room for them.
I want you to remember this when you're navigating your Facebook Newsfeed,
or scrolling through the front page of CNN today:
ALL IS NOT LOST.
LOVE IS ALIVE AND WELL.
THERE IS GOOD IN THIS WORLD.
and LOVE IS ON THE RISE.
I know, because I saw it with my own two eyes.
