Have you ever heard the saying that history repeats itself? I'm sure you have. In tumultuous times like this, we will sometimes look back into the past in order to see what might work and what mistakes to avoid. Or sometimes, we look back in order to avoid seeing what's going on in the present. No matter the reason why we look into the past, every time we do, we find common links between then and now.

One of these links (at least in my opinion) is Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical. In case you don't know what Hair is, it's a Broadway musical that came out in 1969. To give a very general summary, it's about a group of hippies called "the tribe," and their leader Claude struggles between going to fight in Vietnam in order to please his parents, and avoiding the draft because violence goes against his moral beliefs. Many songs from this production became part of the "anti-Vietnam" protests and the songs are still applicable to today's issues.

One song in particular really strikes me as relevant to today and that would be "The Flesh Failures (Let the Sunshine In)." When I first heard this song that debuted in 1969, I couldn't help but find parallels in the issues that were described in it to the issues I see in today's world.

"We starve, look, at one another short of breath - walking proudly in our winter coats wearing smells from laboratories facing a dying nation."

I like this opening sentence because I really think it describes how we are behaving as a country. There are so many problems going on right now that we (mainly our leaders) are trying to avoid. We're more focused on our personal image and reputation that we don't try to reach out to our neighbors. We are starving for unity. Our country is divided and turned against each other and all we seem to care about is our individual well-being. People walk around with their noses to the sky and no one seems to care that there are people in need all around them. We need to come together as a country in order to face the problems that are in front of us.

"A moving paper fantasy. Listening for the new told lies."

This line is especially true because fake news is being spread through social media like a wildfire. Not only that, but our leaders are becoming less and less trustworthy. It's getting more difficult every day to believe what we, as a country, are being told. Every day we are told or promised one thing and then our leaders go around doing the opposite of what they've said or promised. It's a very fragile time and all the fake news and all the lies are not helping anybody's situation.

"Let the sunshine in."

This is the last line of the song and I think it's a good piece of advice for Americans to follow. There are dark clouds hanging over America right now and we all need to do what we can to help shed some light. All this hatred, all this fear, all this prejudice, it needs to stop. No matter who we are, where we've come from, what we believe in, who we love, it doesn't matter at the end of the day because we all live in America and we are all equal. We need to let the peace in. We need to let the respect for one another in. We need to let the sunshine that is hope in and above all else, we need to let the love in. Once we do this, we will not only move forward as a country but as a truly unified people.

So open up your minds and hearts, and let the sunshine in.