Brotherhood and Sisterhood

Free download. In the Amidons book & CD “Song in My Heart“. This was commissioned by the Lititz, Pennsylvania Elementary School with grant from their project on celebrating the differences and teaching students strategies for dealing with bullying. Peter prepared for writing this by reading Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech and Barak Obama’s 2008 Speech on Race.

LYRICS

Brotherhood and Sisterhood
words and music by Peter Amidon ©2008 Amidon Music Publishing
Commissioned by Lititz Elementary School
Lititz, Pennsylania

Some are tall and some are small and some are wide or thin,
And there is great variety in the color of our skin.
Some of us were born right here, and some born far away;
We call this gift diversity and that is why we say:

CHORUS:
Brotherhood and sisterhood doesn’t mean we’re all the same;
It means we all have equal rights, now just let me explain:
It means we love the differences and I’m so glad you came.

Once when we had moved and it was my first day in school;
I was in the playground all alone and feeling like a fool.
A kid came up and said to me, “It looks like you are new,
Why don’t you come join my friends or else we will join you.”

There was a time I’d join my friends in teasing someone else,
But then one day the tables turned and I got teased myself.
Now bullying is teasing with an extra dose of pain,
And I’ve found out how much it hurts so I don’t join the game.

So now when I see bullying there’s three things I might do,
I say “You should stop saying things you wouldn’t want said to you.”
Or find a teacher, Mom or Dad to see what they might say,
Or take the one who’s being teased and help them walk away.