I went to a baseball game over the weekend. It still amazes me when the song YMCA plays age just doesn’t matter. Young and old come together to loudly sing and make the letters with their hands and arms. You can’t help getting swept away the beat and just the lifting of spirits the song requires. Hard to stay in a bad mood when that song is played.
Here is a bit of trivia.
1.Do you know what YMCA stands for?
Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA)
2. Do you know who the audience the Village People were trying to reach?
Down and out city dwellers. The band’s front man, Victor Willis, based the lyrics on his own experiences and wanted to reach out to young urban Black youth. The band’s costumes also say all youth are welcome at the YMCA as it provides more than just a place to stay to get off the streets.
3. Do you know the meaning behind the lyrics?
First verse: if you are homeless and broke you have a place that will take you in to take care of your basic needs.
Second verse: the YMCA can help you get your life back on track so swallow your pride and come in to get help so you can fulfill your dreams.
Third verse: the people at YMCA have common lives who faced dire straits, depression, and just a feeling no one cared, but it is here you will find people who see you favorably and want to help you succeed.
4. Do you know how the YMCA dance came to be?
In 1979, the song was played on “American Bandstand”, and it was the audience that created the hand and arm letter moves to spell out YMCA. It stuck and has been one of the most iconic songs charted on billboard charts.
5. Do you know where the music video to YMCA was filmed?
It features a real YMCA branch in Manhattan, New York. It is the one that Village People’s Randy Jones (AKA Cowboy) frequented when he first came to Manhattan in the mid 70’s.
I thought about the YMCA song’s intention by uplifting young men and to empower them to take the control back so they can be successful in all areas of life. It was a great moment to sing out the lyrics and know it is a fun song with a powerful message. Discouragement can be overwhelming for young people. My podcast is about my week of listening to heart-broken displaced families. So many stressors and nowhere to take them. Resolution seems so far away or even impossible.
Like this song speaking to youth and their potential, I read the Apostle Paul’s advice to the young Timothy.
“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12).
Enjoy the song and just listen to the lyrics to find so many nuggets of hope and value of our youth. Prayers for our children and how culture has warped so many aspects of their lives. May they find the love and communication they crave as I present some examples from my week on my pod cast.
Politics matter “saying no to mastectomy or hormone therapy
or questioning gender identity decisions is not neglect. Parents should have no
say in their kids’ health.”
Washington Democrats passed a bill SB 5599 that states if a
minor runs away form home, they can receive “gender affirming care” including
surgeries without parental consent and without the state being compelled to
tell the parents where their child is.
The compelling reasoning for the bill is to protect trans
kids from abusive households. But there is NO requirement that abuse is even
alleged.
They define another reason to keep this from parent is the
youth is “seeking or receiving protected health care services.”
“Protected health care services” means gender affirming
treatment as defined in RCW 74.09.675. This included facial feminization
surgeries, breast reductions, or breast implants.
It is to the point that a parent even questioning your kid’s
newly claimed identity is abusive.
Who is using kids to show how evolved they are on gender
identity? Where will they be when a broken child is finally returned to the
family? Where will they be if the child regrets the decisions that are now irreversible.
Blessings to you all,