Last night I saw the movie Desert Dancer.  I loved it.  It was a powerful, moving and beautiful testament of the human spirit.  The movie is based on a true story of a young Iranian man who wants to dance but is forbidden to, because of the rules/laws in his country.  But he does so anyway…

It broke my heart to see people hurt, tortured, and killed for simply being themselves and for wanting to express what they feel and see through art.   SUPPRESSION…..I don’t understand the need to control or force others to do things against their will.  But I do understand that it comes from a place of fear.

I am grateful that I live in a country where I am free to be me.  But then as I look around I see suppression here as well.  The difference is- here it is not taken to the extreme…well at least, not as a normal thing.

This one young man formed a dance group, where they performed in secret their love of dancing.  But then he realized that it wasn’t enough to just dance.  They needed an audience…people who wanted to see them perform.  He said, what is the point, if we can’t share it?  or something to that effect.

He took it to the next step.  At great risk to himself and his fellow dancers, they performed; knowing if they were caught they would be imprisoned or worse.

Here at home, we may get a disapproving look or a verbal thrashing, or even physical abuse but again as a whole, our lives aren’t threatened, when we do something others might not like or approve of.

Every time that we share our light, to me, we are honoring the One who created us.   And sometimes that means saying yes when the world says no.  And facing our fears and doing it anyway.

In Cyndi Lauper’s song, she sings, Your true colors are shining through…

And I say yes…let them.

dance baby dance….shine your light for the world to see!