With the recent devastation in Paris, Beirut, Iraq, Syria and earlier in the year Kenya, and the ever present threats of war, disease and suffering, it’s easy to get caught up in the media machine and live in constant fear. Then a thought dawned on me; what if the world was as diverse as the soca world?

Now before you label me as ignorant and accuse me of belittling the recent tragedies (there’s no way of overlooking those deaths), think about the world we live in but with a difference, instead think of it as a world full of soca lovers in one big global fete.

Over the course of history, class, religion, and race amongst other things as a means of control have always divided us. This is as present as ever today. Racism as well as other prejudices is unfortunately still a huge issue, with a lot of this issue still hidden, which in a lot of ways makes it worst. We have been trained to associate the word “terrorism” with a particular sect of peoples, when if we delve deeper into things; the biggest terrorists in the world wear suits and make political decisions for their personal gains with the aim to attain more power.

Before I get too involved in this tangent I’ve gone off on, let’s bring it back to the idea I proposed earlier. Take any soca related event you’ve been to recently. Yes there would have been the scheduled “anybody from [insert your country of origin here]” call, but other than that, we are all in that fete/lime/carnival because we are united in our love of soca. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, whether it’s your first fete or you’ve lost count, if you’re playing mas or chipping illegally and about to get thrown out the band. We all love soca and when that vibe catches you, it doesn’t matter what religion the person you’re jumping with is or the colour of the fetter you’re wining with. We are solely focused on having a good time, enjoying the vibes and sharing those vibes with good people.

If only things were this simple and this way of thinking could be applied to the world as a whole in the blink of an eye, we’d surely have less pain to endure.

You, the average soca lover, are a special kind of person. A world with more like-minded soca lovers is exactly what we need.

The world needs more soca.

#PrayForUsAll