What's Yours Is Mine

The devastation of Haiti’s latest natural disaster in Port-au-Prince is beyond any words I can scribe. I have seen footage and read all about it. I have gazed at pictures of the aftermath of this 7.0 earthquake and still my mind cannot grasp the extent of the damage the earth made when it shook in Port Au Prince.

All I know is that I cried. I mourned. And I heard. I heard over a hundred voices lifting up in song for people they have never seen or met, in a country many have never even set foot upon.   With their beautiful harmonious voices they proved that what is yours-theirs-is mine. Your sorrow, your loss of a loved one, it’s mine. I feel it. It haunts and touches my spirit.

I hear your cries. I see your empty eyes. I feel the pain you feel externally and the scars you bear internally. Because what’s your is mine. We are no longer one nation under one God, but one world under one God.  We share the same air; our blood is the same color. Mountains, seas, country borders cannot separate us, for what’s yours in mine. Our skin color our ethnicity, nothing can separate us for I declare with these words that what’s yours is mine.

I hit replay on the songs Wavin’ Flag and We are the World over and over again as I beg of God to let this music inspire me to give and to share of the blessings I have an abundance of yet take for granted. I ask God to allow me to take. To take their tremendous and horrific events and make them mine. To make what is theirs mine by any means, be it through going, giving money, sending up prayers on their behalf and of those who are there lending hands. That I make what is theirs mine by loving them more than myself. It is just as Paul of Tarsus said, “Carry each other’s burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

And although it has been several weeks since Haiti’s foundation was rocked, the song Wavin’ Flag brings to mind that “caring for each other” message and another strong key note. Even if the news has forgotten to air the details any more, that doesn’t mean the problems, the devastation is over. So continue to reach out. What will it take for us to help? To forget race and do what matters? To give in any way we can? If everyone just gave a dollar think how far would that go? If everyone offered up sincere prayers, think how much would that do? If everyone was willing to lend a helping hand, figuratively and literally, think how many we could touch and the heights that, together, we could reach!

Do we have to wait for another severe natural disaster to be motivated into action? Is there no suffering in your community? Your hometown? Do you know anyone that you could put your arm around and tell them, “What’s yours is mine? Your homelessness has now become my homelessness and I want to help!”

Think of the words that Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie wrote…”well, well, well, well let us realize oh! That a change can only come WHEN WE STAND TOGETHER AS ONE!”

It brings to mind something a wise man said many, many years ago when facing discord among his people.He advised them with these few words, ^“Then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

If we want to be the world, if we are willing to help out those who want to once more see their wavin’ flag, then we need to accept that what is yours is mine. I will gladly be there when you are down. I will cry when you cry. I will hunger when you hunger. Let’s tackle our problems in unity. Let’s sing in harmony. Let’s give plurally. Because I cannot repeat it enough, nor live it enough; what’s yours and yours and yours and yours is mine. And I hope that there are those I can lean on in my tough times who will reply with, “and what’s yours is mine!”

So let us raise our voices with those of these artists in words that will offer hope. Whether we say I care for you, I pray for you, I'm there for you, we will be joining forces in a united front to serve those who cannot help themselves anymore. We will take their helplessness, and make it our mission. We may not be able to sing, but we can all say, what's yours is mine. What's yours is mine.

[Justin Bieber]
There comes a time
When we heed a certain call
[Nicole Scherzinger & Jennifer Hudson]
When the world must come together as one
[Jennifer Hudson]
There are people dying
[Jennifer Nettles]
And it's time to lend a hand to life
The greatest gift of all
[Josh Groban]
We can't go on
Pretending day by day
[Tony Bennet]
That someone, somehow will soon make a change
[Mary J Blige]
We are all a part of
God's great big family
And the truth, you know love is all we need

[Chorus]
[Michael Jackson]
We are the world
We are the children
[Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson]
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let's start giving
[Barbra Streisand]
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day
Just you and me

[Miley Cyrus]
Well........
Send them your heart
So they'll know that someone cares
[Enrique Iglesias]
So their cries for help
Will not be in vain
[Nicole Scherzinger]
We can't let them suffer
No we cannot turn away
[Jamie Foxx]
Right now they need a helping hand
[Selena Gomez]
Nou se Mond La
We are the Children
[Adam Levine]
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So lets start giving
[Pink]
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
[BeBe Winans]
It's true we'll make a better day
Just you and me

[Michael Jackson]
When you're down and out
There seems no hope at all
[Usher]
But if you just believe
There's no way we can fall
[Celine Dion]
Well, well, well, well, let us realize
That a change can only come
[Fergie]
When we stand together as one

[Chorus - All]
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let's start giving
[Nick Jonas]
Got to start giving
[All]
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
[Toni Braxton]
It's true we'll make a better day
Just you and me
[Mary Mary]
We are the world
[Demi Lovato]
We are the World
[Mary Mary]
We are the children
[Demi Lovato]
We are the children
[Isaac Slade]
We are the ones who make a brighter day
[Toni Braxton]
So lets start giving

[Lil Wayne]
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day
Just you and me

[Chorus - All]
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let's start giving
[Akon]
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we make a better day
Just you and me

[T-Pain]
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let's start giving
[Jamie Foxx imitating Ray Charles]
Choice were making
Saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day
Just you and me

[Rapping - LL Cool J, Will-I-Am, Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes, Swizz Beatz]
We all need somebody that we can lean on
When you wake up look around and see that your dreams gone
When the earth quakes we'll help you make it through the storm
When the floor breaks a magic carpet to stand on
We are the World united by love so strong
When the radio isn't on you can hear the songs
A guided light on the dark road your walking on
A sign post to find the dreams you thought was gone
Someone to help you move the obstacles you stumbled on
Someone to help you rebuild after the rubble's gone
We are the World connected by a common bond

Love the whole planet sing it along

[Chorus - All]

[Kanye West]
Everyday citizens
Everybody pitching in

[Singing - Demi Lovato]
Send them your heart
[Joe Jonas]
Send them your soul
[Demi Lovato & Joe Jonas]
Make a wave to save the children
Make a wave for everyone

[Will-I-Am]
You and I
You and I
[Kanye West]
Uh, 12 days no water
What's your will to live?
[Will-I-Am]
We amplified the love we watching multiply
[Kanye West]
Feeling like the Worlds end
We can make the World win
[Will-I-Am]
Like Katrina, Africa, Indonesia
And now Haiti needs us, the need us, they need us

[Chorus - All]
[Wyclef Jean]
Haiti, Haiti, Ha, Ha, ha, ha, ha
Haiti, Haiti, Ha, Ha, ha, ha, ha
Haiti, Haiti, Ha, Ha, ha, ha, ha

[All]

When I get older

I will be stronger

They'll call me freedom

Just like a wavin flag

[K'naan]

Born from a throne

Older than Rome

But violent prone

Poor people zone

[Nelly Furtado]

But it's my home

All I have known

[Sam Roberts]

Where I got grown

but now its gone

[Avril Lavigne]

Out of the darkness

in came the carnage

threatening my very survival

[Pierre Bouvier of Simple Plan]

Fractured my streets

and broke all my dreams

[Tyler Connolly of Theory of a Deadman]

Feels like defeat to wretched retreat

[All]

So we strugglin'

[Kardinal Offishall]

Fighting to eat

[All]

And we wonderin'

[Kardinal Offishall]

If we'll be free

[Jully Black]

We cannot wait for some faithful day

it's too far away so right I'll say

[All - Chorus]

When I get older

I will be stronger

They'll call me freedom

Just like a waving flag

(And then it goes back x3)

Ahhho ahhho ahhho

[Lights]

So many wars, settling scores

[Deryck Whibley of Sum 41]

All that we've been through

and now there is more

[Serena Ryder]

I hear them say love is the way

[Jacob Hoggard of Hedley]

Love is the answer that's what they say

[Emily Haines]

But were not just dreamers

of broken down grievers

[Hawsley Workman]

Our hand will reach us

and we will not teeter

[Drake]

This can't control us

no it can't hold us down

[Chin Injeti]

We gon pick it up even though we still struggling

[Pierre Lapointe]

Au nom de la survie (In the name of survival)

[all]

and we wondering

[Pierre Lapointe]

Battant pour nos vie (Fighting for our lives)

[All]

We patiently wait

for some other day

[Fefe Dobson and Esthero]

thats too far away so right now we say

[All - Chorus]

When I get older

I will be stronger

They'll call me freedom

Just like a waving flag

(And then it goes back x3)

[Drake - Rapping]

Uhh – well alright

How come when the media stops covering

and there's a little help from the government

we forget about the people still struggling

and assume that its really all love again, nahh

see we don't have to wait for things to break apart

if you weren't involved before it's never too late to start

you probably think that it's too far to even have to care

well take a look at where you live what if it happened there?

you have to know the urge to make a change lies within

and we can be the reason that we see the flag rise again

[Nikki Yanofsky & Drake]

When I get older

I will be stronger

They'll call me freedom

Just like a wavin' flag

[15]

And then it goes back

[Justin Nozuka]

And then it goes back

[Nikki Yanofsky]

Then it goes back

[All - Chorus]

When I get older

I will be stronger

They'll call me freedom

Just like a waving flag

(And then it goes back x3)

[Justin Bieber]

When I get older

When I get older

I will be stronger

just like a waving flag.