Hey friends.

I’m starting to feel like I can just begin every one of these I write with “What a week, huh?”

You either watched the Super Bowl halftime show, or you didn’t. But either way, I’m sure you all felt the reactions to it.

What has stuck with me all week wasn’t the outrage, or the mind-blowingly xenophobic “all-American alternative”, or the endless commentary.

It was just… how good it felt.

To see that much color, rhythm, and pride on the field. 

To know that this moment was played in millions of living rooms, bars, and screens across the country and around the world. 

And to watch something that felt so instantly communal, cultural, and filled with happiness.

I could speak my mind about the “alternative” half-time show, but I won’t even give it more thought or commentary here. Jon Stewart can do it justice.

So, here’s what I keep coming back to:

Nobody loses when more people feel seen.

Nobody’s culture shrinks, or is put at risk, because someone else’s culture is celebrated.

I saw so many people commenting that the show wasn’t “inclusive” because they couldn’t relate to anything in it, let alone understand it.

And yet, I watched the exact same show and felt drawn in. I felt curiosity.

The moment the show started I felt like I had a personal tour guide welcoming me in, and showing me what I was missing.

I was reminded of something a friend told me recently: that the best lesson they had learned as a parent was that they didn’t always need to understand their kids - they just needed to support them.

I didn’t grow up with any of the cultural experiences that were depicted in Bad Bunny’s performance, but I could FEEL how deeply universal and personal they were to millions. And that was all the connection I needed.  

You didn’t need to like the music. You didn’t need to understand a single lyric.

But we should all be able to recognize pure joy when we see it. 

We should all be able to feel someone else’s exploding pride, especially when it’s rooted in who they are and where they come from, and not feel threatened by it.

The word empathy gets used a lot these days, because it’s so important to be able to feel someone else’s pain, and appreciate someone else’s struggles, even when they aren’t your own.

But positive empathy is something we don’t talk about as much.

The world is a better place when we allow ourselves to feel someone else’s happiness, to be happy for them, and even be willing to stand up and fight to defend their happiness - whether we share the same experiences or not.

The only thing more powerful than hate is love. It’s the damn truth, and everyone deserves to feel it.

The halftime show was my Weekly Light, and I hope it was for you too. 

– Seth