Blackfied’s “Where Is My Love” may have the most generic title, but fortunately the song itself is much more profound. It’s a portrait of people looking for their place in the world. “Noisy, happy people crossing streets from side to side/Where is my love?” This is universal, every one of us is doing this. We all have stories, we all have experiences of looking in the wrong place and feeling disappointed.
When you think about that, it helps us connect to and relate with all other human beings — age, gender, culture, ethnicity all disappear, and you’re left to face humanity. And thoughts about being unkind doesn’t make sense. Our social relationships being a mirror of who each of us are, so we all have to start with loving oneself and then being kind and loving to those around us. Doing anything else is counter-productive to the ultimate goal of finding our place, for receiving love. And to realize that we all share this need, we all share this universal experience, of looking for love, of failing to find it sometimes, that heartbreak — it leads to a greater realization that humanity is one big community and each of us belong in it.
And that realization creates a warm and fuzzy feeling in me, and with it I feel more motivated to be kind and gentle with everyone. This is a very impactful song.