Remembering George Floyd

Pastor Kim Burrell sings "God Will Take Care of You"

during the funeral for George Floyd on June 9, 2020,

at the Fountain of Praise church in Houston.

Godofredo A. Vásquez / AP

It is important to raise consciousness, to reveal, if you will, the condition of our human family – the good and bad of it and what history teaches us about ourselves.

Our individual lives can differ, and in those differences, we learn the collective human experience – for the most part – through a narrow band of family and surrounding community experiences. And even in those broader community interactions, we have different experiences with each other based on our race, ethnicity, faith, education, and dissimilar personal circumstances.

Getting out of our own skins and imagining life as someone else requires a recognition of fundamental sameness that joins us as a species. From there, we can move beyond prejudice to an appreciation of one another, to an empathy for our reflection in another human being, to a caring for them and their well being.

Caring prompts us to celebrate their being-ness, to feel their pain in suffering and their joy in abundance, to the embracing and celebration of our collective experience. Every moment of caring keeps the flame of hope for a better world alive .