There’s a band, Lukas Nelson & The Promise of the Real, who released a song, Turn off the News (Build a Garden), from an album of the same name, a few years back. The song, like much of its parent album, speaks of the good things in life that we can all experience if we actively choose to take part in our communities, spending more of our time on things we can have a helping hand in, like fostering connections with one another, and stop passively, unquestioningly, participating in an unremitting 24 hours news cycle that’s not only on TV: it’s in our hands, too. Because, what good is it doing us, really? We’re not having an impact on things happening, anywhere, by watching what happens there. And then, the news or our social media feeds broadcast something else – often sensationalised – to hold our attentions, that stimulates our emotions, and distracts us from doing something in real life.
There’s a couple, characters in my novel, How to Build a Champion, who live their lives along the lines of the lyrics: “Turn off the news and raise your kids/Give them something to believe in/Teach them how to be good people/Give them hope that they can see.” The characters are Bobby and ‘Toria. And they run their business – an osteria named Champions – alongside ‘parenting’ Bobby’s niece, Cassandra. They’re a warm-natured, blended family, who share their lives and maintain separate residences.
We’re not in control of everything in our lives. (As much as many of us, I’m sure, would like to be.) What we are in control of, is of the seeds we plant; what we sow. What our attentions feast on, is what we fill ourselves with. So why don’t we fill ourselves with joy, and laughter, love, and light? We can turn the television off. And when we pick up our smartphones, we can consume content we’ve consciously curated to build our resilience, to see or to read of people doing ‘good work’, and positively influence the actions we take in our lives to help ourselves, and to help each other. Because, what it all comes down to is in how we frame things. It’s only the frame we put around something that makes it important. In considering other points-of-view, and having compassion in our philosophies, we can foster trust, strengthen emotional connections, and navigate potential challenges more successfully. A simple fact of life is: everyone’s different, and that’s what makes us all the same.
There’s a scene, at the tail-end of How to Build a Champion, which shares a similar sentiment to David Mancuso’s ‘Love Saves the Day’ party, which he held, at his New York City loft, in 1970. (I’d wrote the scene years before I discovered Mancuso in early 2025, while researching my next book.) Mancuso’s party was noted as “an act of social alchemy,” because, its “inclusivity, a rarity at the time, fostered a sense of belonging and freedom, setting The Loft apart from the commercial club scene.” And in today’s online landscape, where we can join infinite amounts of communities, create our own spaces, and be curious about other’s ways of life, it’s a shame that some of us choose to be closed-minded, and so very keen to ‘pick a side’. Life is much easier if you accept people as they are, then you know who you’re dealing with, and you can decide for yourself if you want to be around them, or not. And to do this, you need to know what you value, how to actively listen, and to keep an open mind. (If only to filter out other people’s bullshit, before you dance your troubles away.)
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