Botham Jean’s brother asked to hug Amber Guyger after her sentencing
Amber Guyger’s trial was an incredibly divisive moment in our culture. A police officer who shot and killed a black man after accidentally entering his home is a recipe for culture war across social media. And sure enough, millions of Americans found themselves unable to look away from her trial and eventual sentencing of 10…
Amber Guyger’s trial was an incredibly divisive moment in our culture. A police officer who shot and killed a black man after accidentally entering his home is a recipe for culture war across social media. And sure enough, millions of Americans found themselves unable to look away from her trial and eventual sentencing of 10 years.
First, there was the controversy over whether or not Guyger should be found guilty. Then, many people were split over whether the sentence of 10 years was just.
It was a moment of intellectual honesty running into feelings of rage, sadness and hopelessness and those who advocate for social justice and leniency rooted for someone to put away in prison for as long as possible. The lives of those already lost and those on the line were pawns in a political chess match across the spectrum.
And then the brother of Botham Jean reminded us all that these are human beings. As Guyger was sentenced, Brandt asked the judge if he could hug Guyger. He approached her in the courtroom where he offered his forgiveness and the two embraced. It’s a photograph that will be impossible to forget for almost anyone who sees it:
Wow I've never seen this before at a sentencing hearing:
Botham Jean's brother asked the judge if he can hug Amber Guyger after a jury sentenced her to 10 years in state prison for killing his brother.
Of course, the moment also spurred a negative reaction from some who say the narrative of expected forgiveness is one too often thrust upon black Americans:
We gotta stop this shit smh. We have the right to be angry too !! We always forgiving .— Donte Sexum (@juscallmeSpenc) October 2, 2019
Others argued that mercy is a sign of strength, not systemic racism or individual weakness:
Hate won’t bring his brother back. I don’t know if I could forgive her the way he did, but it’s a sign of strength to me.— ռօɮօɖʏ (@8BitSocialist) October 2, 2019
What do you think? Was Brandt’s gesture an opportunity for healing and compassion in the face of tragedy? Or, was it little more than an honest display from a grieving man that will be manipulated by those who opposed Guyger’s conviction?
An Operation Smile volunteer reverses an oxygen mask so a child with a cleft condition can blow a bubble for the first time in Guadalajara, Mexico. (Operation Smile Photos)
For thousands of children born with cleft conditions, Operation Smile provides simple, playful tools—like bubbles—to strengthen the skills they need to speak and thrive.
While a bottle of bubbles might seem out of place in a hospital setting, you might be surprised to learn that, for thousands of children around the world born with cleft lip and palate, they can be a helpful tool in comprehensive cleft care. Lilia, who was born with cleft lip and palate in 2020, is one of the many patients who received this care.
As a toddler, Lilia underwent two surgeries to treat cleft lip and palate with Operation Smile’s surgical program in Puebla, Mexico. Because of Operation Smile’s comprehensive care, it wasn’t long before her personality transformed: Lilia went from a quiet and withdrawn toddler to an exuberant, curious explorer, babbling, expressing herself with a variety of sounds, and engaging with others like any child her age.
Lilia is now a healthy five-year-old, with the same cheerful attitude and boundless energy. Her progress is the result of care at every level, from surgery to speech therapy to ongoing support at home—but it’s also evidence that small, sustained interventions throughout it all can make a meaningful difference.
Lilia at age 1, before surgery, and at age 5, 4 years post-surgery
Cleft Conditions: A Global Problem
Since 1982, Operation Smile has provided cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries to more than 500,000 patients worldwide with the help of generous volunteers and donors. Cleft conditions are congenital conditions, meaning they are present at birth. With cleft lip and palate, the lip or the roof of the mouth do not form fully during fetal development. Cleft conditions put children at risk for malnutrition and poor weight gain, since their facial structure can make feeding challenging. But cleft conditions can have an enormous social impact as well: Common difficulties with speech can leave kids socially isolated and unable to meet the same developmental milestones as their peers.
Surgery is a vital step in treating cleft conditions, but it’s also just one part of a much larger solution. Organizations like Operation Smile emphasize the importance of multi-disciplinary teams that provide comprehensive, long-term care to patients across many years. This approach, which includes oral care, speech therapy, nutritional support, and psychosocial care, not only aids in physical recovery from surgery but also helps children develop the skills and confidence to eat easily, speak clearly, and engage in everyday life. This ensures that each patient receives the full range of support they need to thrive.
Marie, 11 months, with her mother at Operation Smile Madagascar before her cleft surgery (Operation Smile Photos)
A Playful (and Powerful) Solution
Throughout a patient’s care, simple tools like bubbles can play a meaningful role from start to finish.
Immediately before surgery, children are often in a new and unfamiliar environment far from home, some of them experiencing a hospital setting for the first time. When care providers or loved ones blow bubbles, it’s a simple yet effective technique: Not only are the children soothed and distracted, the bubbles also help create a sense of joy and playfulness that eases their anxiety.
Milagros Rojas, a volunteer speech therapist in Peru, using bubbles in a screening with a patient. (Operation Smile Photos)
In speech therapy, bubbles can take on an even more important role. Blowing bubbles requires controlled airflow, as well as the ability to form a rounded “O” shape with the lips, which are skills that children with cleft conditions may struggle to develop. Practicing these skills with bubbles allows children to gently strengthen their facial muscles, improve breath control, and support the motor skills needed for speech development. Beyond that, blowing bubbles can help kids connect with their parents or providers in a way that’s playful, comforting, and accessible even for very young patients.
Finally, bubbles often follow patients with cleft conditions home in the “smile bags” that each patient receives when the surgical procedure is finished. Smile bags, which help continue speech therapy outside of the hospital setting, can contain language enrichment booklets, a mirror, oxygen tubing, and bubbles. While regular practice with motor skills can help with physical recovery, small acts of play help as well, giving kids space to simply enjoy themselves and join in on what peers are able to do.
Bubbles at Home and Beyond
Today, because of Operation Smile’s dedication to comprehensive cleft care, Lilia is now able to make friends and speak clearly, all things that could have been difficult or impossible before. Instead of a childhood defined by limitation, Lilia—and others around the world—can look forward to a childhood filled with joy, learning, discovery, friends, and new possibilities.
CTA: Lilia’s life was changed for the better with the care she received through Operation Smile. Find out how you can make an impact in other children’s lives by visiting operationsmile.org today.
Sometimes, when we encounter unsavory behavior from others, a response is warranted. But the real art is responding in a way that’s clear, strong, and yet still peaceful. For an example of this, look no further than Xander’s dad, who was on the receiving end of hate from his neighbor. Rather than spewing back the same amount of vitriol, his colorful comeback had courage, wit and just the right amount of flair.
As Xander tells us in the video, the retort came after the neighbor told his dad that having two gay kids (Xander’s sister Claire is a lesbian) meant he “failed as a parent.” “So dad took a moment then replied with this…” the onscreen text reads. Next thing you know, Xander’s dad can be seen filling his backyard with huge (like, parade-level huge) rainbow pride flags. A dozen of them at least.
The video ends with the words: “No, saying things like that does.”
But rather than accept defeat, or resort to cruelty, he simply looked at the rules, only to discover that his house was actually outside the map by 2 meters (6.5 feet). So up the pride flags went! And even more this time!
Flag responses seem to run in the family. In another video, Xander explains that his neighbor (where have all the friendly ones gone?) said he couldn’t sell his house because of the small window-sized trans flag hung near the roof. So Xander got an even bigger one that covered the entire back side.
Are gay people more likely to have gay siblings than straight people?
In another video, Xander introduced his sister, who is a lesbian, raising the question: is it more likely for gay people to have a gay sibling than a straight person? Research says yes. Gay women and men are more likely to have gay siblings than straight women and straight men. Somewhere between 7 to 16% of gay people also have a gay sibling.
Pride Flags have long been a nonviolent way to stand up for the LGBTQ community. And yet, they still manage to whip up plenty of heated controversy, particularly at schools. The original eight colors all had a specific meaning, and only one color (pink) denoted sexuality. Meaning that the pride flag was and is just as nuanced and dynamic as the people it represents.
The flag has taken on many different forms over the years as it evolves to speak for more marginalized communities, but it remains a peaceful and artistic form of protest. One that always seems to get the message across.
This article originally appeared four years ago. It has been updated.
“Robin Hoodand Little John, walking through the forest/Laughing back and forth at what the other’n has to say/Reminiscing this and that and having such a good time/Oo-de-lally, oo-de-lally, golly, what a day…
“Never ever thinking there was danger in the water/They were drinking, they just guzzled it down/Never dreaming that a scheming sheriff and his posse/Was a-watching them and gathering around.”
There never was a greater set of foes than Robin Hood and that evil Sheriff, whose greed was even more legendary than Robin Hood’s archery skills.
The discovery was made on a farm in Rushcliffe, Nottinghamshire, 26.9 miles from Sherwood Forest. The forest is known worldwide for being the mythological home of Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men. A central road that traversed the forest was notorious in Medieval times for being an easy place for bandits to rob travelers going to and from London.
Today, the forest is a designated National Nature Reserve. It contains ancient oaks that date back thousands of years, making it an important conservation area.
“It was the first big dig after lockdown on a glorious day. We were searching two fields. Other detectorists kept finding hammered coins but I’d found nothing,” Harrison said according to the Daily Mail. “Then I suddenly got a signal. I dug up a clod of earth but couldn’t see anything. I kept breaking up the clod and, on the last break, a gold ring was shining at me. I broke out into a gold dance.”
Harrison sent the ring to the British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme to have it authenticated.
After doing some research they found that it was once owned by Sir Matthew Jenison, who was the Sheriff of Nottingham between 1683 and 1684.
The first accounts of Robin Hood, then known as Robyn Hode, first appear as early as the 13th and 14th centuries, a few hundred years before Sir Matthew served as sheriff.
But there’s no doubt that the archer and leader of Merry Men would have been delighted to know that an everyday guy came into possession of the Sheriff of Nottingham’s ring.
Sir Matthew was knighted in 1683 and acted as a commissioner to examine decaying trees in Sherwood Forest. He was later elected to Parliament in 1701. However, a series of lawsuits over shady land dealings would eventually be his ruin and he’d die in prison in 1734.
The gold signet ring bears the coat of arms of the Jenison family, who were known for getting rich off a treasure trove of valuables left for safekeeping during the English Civil War.
The valuables were never claimed, so the Jenisons took them for themselves.
Was Robin Hood a real person?
The whole thing makes you question how much of the legend of Robin Hood is actually true. Experts debate whether Robin Hood stories are based on one person or accounts of multiple different people. Various versions of the mythology begin and end in different time periods, but all share some similarities: Namely, Robin Hood shooting a bow and arrow and being constantly at odds with the evil Sheriff of Nottingham.
In the end, Robin Hood was said to have been murdered by his aunt. As he bled to death, “Little John placed Robin’s bow in his hand and carried him to a window from where Robin managed to loose one arrow. Robin asked Little John to bury him where the arrow landed, which he duly did. … A mound in Kirklees Park, within bow-shot of the house, can still be seen and is said to be his last resting place,” according to Historic UK.
Another site, a cemetery in Yorkshire, features a tombstone that reads:
Here underneath this little stone Lies Robert, Earl of Huntingdon Ne’er [never] archer was as he so good And people called him Robin Hood Such outlaws as he and his men Will England never see again.
Believe it or not, that wasn’t the only ring
What makes the story even more remarkable is that a second ring found at the same site five minutes before Harrison’s discovery was sold at auction in 2023. The circa 1560 posy ring, inscribed with the words “I Meane Ryght,” was found by water company worker Andy Taylor and is also believed to have belonged to a member of the Jenison family.
What happened to the ring after it was found
As for Harrison, he decided that he would sell the ring to someone who appreciates its importance.
“There can’t be many people who’ve found anything like that. I’m only selling it because it’s been stuck in a drawer,” Harrison said. “I hope it will go to someone who will appreciate its historical value.” It was sold at auction by Hansons Auctions for £8,500 ($11,115).
You can witness the intense final moments of the auction here:
Let’s hope that the man who sold the ring does what Robin Hood would have done with a piece of jewelry that adorned the hand of a nobleman whose family came into money by taking other people’s loot. Surely, he’d take the proceeds from the auction and give them to the poor.
This article originally appeared four years ago. It has been updated.
Much has been made of the contrast between Gen X and Gen Z/Gen Alpha childhoods, but some differences feel more significant than others.
Obviously, Gen X didn’t have smartphones, social media, or even the Internet during our formative years. We roamed and explored our towns with little to no adult supervision. We came home when the streetlights went on or when our parents came to find us after the television PSA that said, “Parents, it’s 10 p.m. Do you know where your kids are?“
Some realities of Gen X childhood sound made up to younger generations, but some even sound bonkers to our own adult ears. Topping that list is how old so many of us were when we started babysitting. Some of us have had to check in with one another to make sure our memories are correct. Was I really putting someone else’s babies to bed at age 11?
Gen Xers regularly started babysitting as young as age 8
“I need you to back me up,” wrote a Gen Xer on TikTok. “Did we not babysit entire families as children? I was 11 with zero training and full responsibility for 3 kids and an infant…paid $5 and a party pizza…My kids don’t believe me. My parents don’t recall.”
Other Gen Xers do recall, and we’re a bit baffled by it. It didn’t seem all that odd to us at the time. But looking back, especially as parents ourselves, who let us do that? Check out these examples from TikTok, which are in no way out of the ordinary:
“The day after my 10th birthday the neighbors down the street were excited I was finally old enough to babysit their kids. Their kids were 3 and 5. Apparently your age hitting double digits was all the qualifications needed.”
“Yup! 11 and babysat a newborn! Like what!? 🤣 Why did they let and why did my parents let me?”
“I was 10 watching 4 kids and I had to make dinner. 😂”
“Yes! I was about 12 and babysat 3 kids – one was an infant and I had zero training. I was paid $2-3 an hour.”
“Yep I had a neighbor kid I took care of starting at 8. She was 2.”
“I was 11 watching a 2 and 3 year old. Made meals, changed diapers, gave baths. Zero training or babysitting classes taken.”
“I was 8 and babysitting 2 nephews from one brother and 3 from another… all under the age of 5.”
“I was 9 and holding it down with a 4, 2, and newborn. The ‘80s were wild!!!!”
“I started babysitting my 3 year old and 6 month old brothers when I was 8. My mom went back to school and I was in charge on weekends and all summer.”
Well, I mean my generation basically watched ourselves all the time so babysitting was no big deal! Can you imagine a 10 year old watch your baby alone these days? Maybe for a very short period of time if they were siblings. Other than that heck no! #nostalgiatok#80skid#80skids#generationx
Gen X has spent most of its lives in caretaking roles
Being full-on babysitters at age eight is genuinely wild, considering how most kids that age today have their own babysitters. Even knowing how different our childhoods were from the digital-native generations, having an eight- or nine-year-old caring for babies and toddlers feels like questionable decision-making on the part of all adults involved.
As a Gen Xer, I was babysitting other people’s kids by age 11. Even though I was quite mature for my age, that seems awfully young to me now. I’m sure preteens babysitting still happens, but it’s definitely not the norm.
And that’s probably a good thing. On one hand, there’s nothing wrong with kids learning responsibility at a young age. On the other hand, if you’re a Gen Xer who started babysitting at age eight and is a parent now, you’ve likely spent nearly all of your life in a caretaking role. And you’re likely continuing in that role both with your young adult kids and your aging parents.
There are a lot of questions we can raise in hindsight. Even if we were capable of babysitting kids not much younger than ourselves, were we any good at it? Was it healthy for us or for those kids? Did the expectations placed on us help us learn responsibility? Or did some of us have adult responsibilities placed on us too early?
We can ask the flip side of the same questions about younger generations. Have we expected too little of them? Has protecting their childhoods prevented them from learning responsibility? Is it healthy for kids to be constantly supervised? Did Gen X grow up and swing the pendulum too far the other way in raising Gen Z?
Can we really even answer those questions? Gen X has been called the least parented generation, which has certainly led to some conflicting perspectives. Our childhoods are often touted as being “carefree” when viewed through rose-colored glasses. But for many Gen Xers, especially women, the reality was more like “underparented while being expected to take on parenting responsibilities.”
In many ways, Gen X childhood was pretty great, but the premature babysitting thing was “legit sus,” as our kids would say. What were the adults thinking? Is it too late to ask?
To be a great fiction writer requires understanding basic story structures and being clever enough to disguise them so your audience doesn’t know they’re watching or reading something they’ve seen before. Academics suggest that there are only a finite number of plots and structures, but that number varies based on who’s doing the talking.
Writer Kurt Vonnegut, best known for his satirical works on American politics and culture, including “Slaughterhouse-Five,” “Cat’s Cradle” and “Sirens of Titan,” was obsessed with the shapes of stories and summed up his views in one powerful sentence: “The fundamental idea is that stories have shapes which can be drawn on graph paper and that the shape of a given society’s stories is at least as interesting as the shape of its pots or spearheads.”
What are the shapes of stories?
In the video below, Vonnegut explains the shapes of three different types of stories. The first one he starts with is “person gets into trouble.”
The first question is where the main character or protagonist starts their journey. Are they in a state of good or bad fortune, and how does that change from beginning to end? The arc of this story is simple, someone starts off in good fortune, they get into trouble, and then find their way out. “Somebody gets into trouble, then gets out of it again. People love that story. They never get tired of it,” Vonnegut says with a smirk.
The second is called “boy gets girl,” which is the basics of the story: someone finds something “wonderful,” their life is on an upward trajectory, then they trail downwards until they can get the girl or boy back. He finishes with the “most popular story” of Western civilization, and that is “Cinderella.”What’s interesting about the story is that it’s about a poor little girl whose mother has died, and her life is pure misery. But her story has a massive upswing when she meets her fairy godmother and can go to the ball. But once the clock strikes midnight, her life crashes down in a matter of seconds.
Vonnegut’s eerie prediction about AI
What’s interesting is that at the beginning of the video, Vonnegut notes that stories are relatively “simple” and that they should be able to be plugged into computers that could then regurgitate the same story over and over again. It almost feels like an eerie predictor of artificial intelligence. “There’s no reason why the simple shapes of a story can’t be fed into computers. They are beautiful shapes,” Vonnegut says. “Now this is an exercise in relativity, really. It’s the shape of the curves are what matters, and not their origins.”
After seeing Vonnegut map out the basic plotlines of stories, it’s hard not to see them every time you watch a movie or TV show. It is amazing that, because there are so few characters and plot arcs in modern storytelling, anyone can create anything that feels new.
This story originally appeared three years ago. It has since been updated.
We see many symbols in our everyday lives that we likely don’t pay much attention to: the @ in our email addresses, for instance, or the % in our weather forecasts. But do we ever wonder where these symbols came from? Why they look like they do? Or how they came to mean what they mean?
One of the most commonly used symbols that most of us are clueless about is the dollar sign ($). Why does it have an “S” if there’s no “s” in “dollar”? Is there supposed to be one line or two? And where did the $ symbol even originate?
The first written use of the dollar sign as we know it appeared in a handwritten letter sent by a man in New Orleans in 1778. Some may be under the impression that the $ is an amalgamation of “U” and “S,” as in United States, but nope. Its origin isn’t actually from the United States at all.
The international origins of the U.S. dollar start in Spain
In fact, we have to take a whole international tour through hundreds of years of currency history to arrive at what we think is the origin of the $. As Watts shares, we don’t know with 100% certainty.
The story begins with the Spanish real, the silver coin that served as the currency of Spain in the 14th century. A larger coin, worth eight times the value of the real, became known as a “piece of eight” in English. Those pieces of eight made their way to the Americas through colonialism in the 15th and 16th centuries.
“The discovery of huge, gleaming reserves of silver in Central and South America meant that they could also be made there, too,” Watts shares. “At the local mints, they took on a new name as well, based on the fixed weights of silver they were made from. They became known as the ‘peso,’ meaning ‘unit of weight.’”
Because of their reliability and divisibility into smaller units, these pesos started being used not just in the Spanish-speaking colonies, but in British colonies in the Caribbean and North America as well.
Hold the peso thought. We’ll come back to it momentarily.
The word “dollar” can be traced back to the German Joachimsthaler coin
In the meantime, another coin of similar value from the German town of Joachimsthal had gained traction in Europe.
“In precisely the same way that a round slab of beef from Hamburg became known as a hamburger, this round slab of silver from Joachimsthal became known as a Joachimsthaler,” Watts explains. “And in exactly the same way that a hamburger is sometimes just called a ‘burger,’ a Joachimsthaler was sometimes just called a ‘thaler.’”
“Thaler” became “daalder” in the Netherlands, “daler” in parts of Scandinavia, and “dollar” in the English-speaking world.
But that dollar wasn’t the dollar we ended up with.
“By 1700, the thaler had been adapted to have almost exactly the same silver content as another coin that was competing for usage in Europe: the ‘piece of eight’ or peso,” says Watts. “And so, to help differentiate between the two similarly valued coins, people started referring to the peso as ‘the Spanish dollar.’ This Spanish dollar was the de facto currency of the Americas right up until the American Revolution.”
The dollar sign actually comes from the peso symbol
Prior to declaring independence from Britain, the U.S. used the British pound for accounting. But the Spanish dollar, or peso, was the coin most often used as currency, so post-Revolution, the U.S. adopted the dollar as its own. (The first official U.S. dollar coin was minted in 1792.)
So, long story short, the Spanish dollar, or peso, was the basis for the U.S. dollar. Which finally leads us to where the $ came from.
The symbol used for pesos way back when was “ps,” with the “s” written like a superscript. When written with a pen in one stroke, the “s” ended up with a line through it. And when someone wanted to indicate plural pesos, they would write the symbol twice. The second instance, written more quickly, ended up blending the “p” and “s” together to look more like a $.
How did the $ with two lines come about? As shown in the image above, the two lines often lead people to the “U” plus “S” theory. However, Watts points out that the first printed version of the dollar sign appeared in 1797. That dollar sign actually had two lines, with no indication that “U” and “S” were the reason. Both versions of the symbol were in use by the close of the 18th century.
Watts goes into some of the other theories about where the double-lined dollar sign comes from. However, there doesn’t seem to be solid evidence to back any of them up.
Isn’t that wild? Who knew that our currency had such a complicated origin story? Or that we don’t even really know for certain why we use $ for the almighty dollar?
Thanks, Rob Watts, for making us all a little bit smarter. You can follow him on YouTube for more word fun.
Christine Kesteloo has become popular on TikTok with over one million followers because she shares what living on a cruise ship is really like. Kesteloo is the wife of the ship’s Staff Chief Engineer, so she gets to live on the boat for free. She only has to pay for alcohol and soda, which she gets for half off according to Business Insider.
So what is life actually like on board?
“I live on a cruise ship for half the year with my husband, and it’s often as glamorous as it sounds,” she told BusinessInsider. “After all, I don’t cook, clean, make my bed, do laundry or pay for food.“
Kesteloo’s life seems pretty stress-free. After all, she’s basically on a permanent vacation. However, even though she lives on a cruise ship as a “wife on board,” there are a few things she either can’t or shouldn’t do.
Here are the four things she cannot do
She shared these four things in a TikTok video with nearly 10 million views.
Kesteloo says she cannot sit at a slot machine and “play my heart out until I win.” She believes it would “look a little weird if I, as the wife of the staff chief engineer, won a big jackpot.”
2. Leaving the ship with the guests
When the ship arrives at a destination, she can’t get off with the guests. She must wait about an hour and exit the vessel with the crew. When returning to the ship, she also has to be on time. “No, they will not wait for us,” she says. And the same goes for her husband, if they “miss the ship, someone else will take over the role.”
3. Sitting in a crowded pool
Although Kesteloo has access to the pool, gym, and all the ship’s amenities, she’s cautious not to interfere with the guests’ good time. She’ll exit the pool if it’s busy because “it’s just the right thing to do.”
4. Traveling without international traveler insurance
She must have insurance in case of a misfortune on the ship. But as a citizen of the Netherlands, they already have coverage and just have to pay a few extra dollars a month.
The comments had one big question
Though folks generally welcomed Kesteloo’s advice, some of the most popular commenters on the video were from women regretting that they married men who aren’t chief engineers on cruise ships or those who want to know where to find a single one.
“OK, can you explain how to marry a cruise ship engineer?” one female commenter wrote.
“How. in. the. H E double hockey sticks do I become the wife of a cruise ship engineer???? I don’t have to work AND cruise for free!” another added.
“Does he have any single friends with same job??? Asking for me,” one more asked.
For even more tips on living this charmed life, follow Kesteloo on TikTok. Who knows, by now she might even have some advice for landing your own cruise ship engineer spouse.
This article originally appeared three years ago. It has been updated.
The case called attention to the fact that there are motifs and musical structures common in pop music that no one owns, and all are free to use. When it comes to chord progressions, the 12-bar blues and basic I, IV, V, I progressions you hear in country and folk have been used and reused since people first picked up the guitar.
In the wrong hands, the progressions can result in music that is boring and formulaic, but in the right hands, they can be a springboard for fresh ideas.
Guitarist playing their instrument. Photo credit: Canva
A comedy group proved the point perfectly
In 2009, Australian comedy group Axis Of Awesome did a funny sketch showing how one four-chord progression, famous for being the basis of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” has been used countless times by musicians to great effect.
They played a medley of 38 major hits using the same progression to prove their point. For musicians, it’s known as the I–V–vi–IV progression, and when played in the key of C it would be C, G, Am, F.
Warning: Video contains strong language.
Here are all 38 songs in the medley
“Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey
“You’re Beautiful” by James Blunt
“Forever Young” by Alphaville
“I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz
“Happy Ending” by Mika
“Amazing” by Alex Lloyd
“Wherever You Will Go” by The Calling
“Can You Feel The Love Tonight” by Elton John
“She Will Be Loved” by Maroon 5
“Pictures Of You” by The Last Goodnight
“With Or Without You” by U2
“Fall At Your Feet” by Crowded House
“Not Pretty Enough” by Kasey Chambers
“Let It Be” by The Beatles
“Under the Bridge” by Red Hot Chili Peppers
“The Horses” by Daryl Braithwaite
“No Woman No Cry” by Bob Marley
“Sex and Candy” by Marcy Playground
“Land Down Under” by Men at Work
“Waltzing Matilda” by Banjo Paterson
“Take On Me” by A-ha
“When I Come Around” by Green Day
“Save Tonight” by Eagle Eye Cherry
“Africa” by Toto
“If I Were A Boy” by Beyoncé
“Self Esteem” by The Offspring
“You’re Gonna Go Far Kid” by The Offspring
“U + Ur Hand” by Pink
“Poker Face” by Lady Gaga
“Barbie Girl” by Aqua
“You Found Me” by The Fray
“Don’t Trust Me” by 30h!3
“Kids” by MGMT
“Canvas Bags” by Tim Minchin
“Torn” by Natalie Imbruglia
“Superman” by Five for Fighting
“Birdplane” by Axis of Awesome
“Scar” by Missy Higgins
And the official video has even more songs
It’s quite an extensive (and, as they prove, accurate) list, but that’s not all. In the summer of 2011, Axis of Awesome released an official music video of “4 Chords” on their YouTube channel, which included even more songs such as Train’s “Hey, Soul Sister,” The Black Eyed Peas’ “Where is the Love?”, John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” and even Men at Work’s “Land Down Under” in addition to many, many, many more.
Check it out:
Axis of Awesome officially broke up in August 2018 after a year-long break in 2017. Though the trio is no longer performing together, the impact of “4 Chords” goes on and on…much like the use of that musical progression. And, while all these songs may use the same four chords, you’ve got to admit they’re all bangers, so we’re not mad at it.
This article originally appeared three years ago. It has been updated.
Photo credit: Annie Reneau – The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States, left, and the Bahá'í House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois, right.
Around the world, the nine-member governing bodies of the Bahá’í Faith are democratically elected with no nominations, campaigns, or even mention of individual names.
While doing research for her 2021 book, High Conflict, investigative journalist Amanda Ripley posed a question: “Are there examples of institutions that do conflict better, institutionally, sort of enshrined in what they do?”
That question led Ripley to the Bahá’í Faith and the process it uses to elect its governing bodies. Ripley specializes in exploring “depolarization” and found the faith’s electoral process to be a solid example of how to avoid polarization while electing the most qualified people.
Elections with zero electioneering? How?
Imagine a democratic election process with no nominations, no campaigning, no parties or factions, and no electioneering of any kind. Not a whisper of “You should vote or shouldn’t vote for so-and-so.” Not even an “I’d like to humbly put myself forward for consideration.” That’s what Bahá’í elections are like.
“It’s literally the opposite of elections today in the United States, in every way,” Ripley told the Society Builders podcast. “And yet, it’s happening all around the world, so it’s very encouraging.”
As a Bahá’í myself, seeing Ripley explain the Bahá’í electoral process from an outside perspective is fascinating. I’m so used to it, having participated in dozens of elections, that I sometimes forget how unique it is. But when contrasted with nearly every other democratic voting system, I can see why it drew Ripley’s attention.
Bahá’í elections at the local level
At the local level of administration (town, city, or county), Bahá’ís elect nine-member bodies called Local Spiritual Assemblies. The elected members of a Spiritual Assembly have no individual authority, but function as a collective, consultative institution that tends to the affairs of the community.
Here’s how these institutions are elected: Throughout the year, we spend time getting to know the members of our community, keeping in mind that we will elect some of these people to serve on the Local Spiritual Assembly each spring. No names are ever mentioned when discussing the Assembly election, though. We only discuss the combination of qualities necessary to serve, which include selfless devotion, a well-trained mind, unquestioned loyalty, recognized ability, and mature experience.
At election time, after prayer and reflection, every adult member of the community votes by secret ballot for the nine people they believe are best qualified to serve on the Assembly.
The way ballots are handled ensures that even the tellers who tally the votes don’t see who voted for whom. The nine people who receive the most votes overall are called to serve on the Local Spiritual Assembly.
Serving on a Spiritual Assembly is viewed as a sacred, selfless duty, not as a personal victory or promotion. As Ripley shared, “If you get asked to serve, you gotta serve. And the ego is really subverted in that process.”
How Bahá’ís conduct national elections
The electoral process looks slightly different at the national level, where we use a delegate system. I participated as a delegate in helping elect the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States this year, so I can share an insider’s view of what that process looked like.
Last October, a total of 171 delegates were elected (again by secret ballot, with no electioneering) from electoral units around the U.S. Every adult Bahá’í has the opportunity and responsibility to participate in their local delegate election. And again, whoever receives the most votes serves.
The Bahá’í National Convention was held at the Bahá’í House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois. Photo credit: Annie Reneau
In April, those 171 delegates gathered for the Bahá’í National Convention at the Bahá’í House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois. The purpose of the convention was twofold: to elect the National Spiritual Assembly and to consult and share what we’ve been learning through our community activities over the past year.
It may be hard to imagine, but the admonition against electioneering is taken to heart in elections at every level. The convention began on Thursday morning, and the election took place on Saturday. The delegates were together all day Thursday and Friday, and there was not a single conversation about who should or should not be elected to the National Spiritual Assembly.
Instead, we consulted about what’s been happening in our communities, sharing triumphs and challenges, heartening stories and heartfelt concerns. We discussed the qualities necessary to serve on the Assembly, but never names. Not even the slightest indirect hint about any particular individual.
Bahá’í delegates from around the U.S. gathered in Wilmette, Illinois, to elect the National Spiritual Assembly. Photo credit: Nancy Wong
What the actual voting looks like
The morning of the election, the delegates gathered in the sanctuary of the House of Worship for prayer and meditation. Then we returned to the meeting hall downstairs to vote. Each of us silently filled out a paper ballot with the names of nine people we felt were most qualified to serve. Then we placed our ballots into plain white envelopes. Once all delegates had finished voting, we deposited the envelopes, one by one, into a box at the front of the room. The atmosphere was peaceful, calm, and reverent.
Our votes are secret and private—no one will ever know who we voted for unless we choose to tell someone. (In 30 years of participating in elections, I’ve never had another Bahá’í tell me who they voted for.) As delegates, we represent our local areas at the convention, but we are elected to vote according to our own consciences. No one from our electoral unit talks to us about who they want us to vote for.
The process is about as pure as an election process can be. And the result is a high-functioning administrative body that beautifully reflects our national community.
The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States elected in April 2026. Photo credit: Annie Reneau
(Every five years, the world’s National Spiritual Assemblies from every country gather to elect the Universal House of Justice, the nine-member body that guides the international Bahá’í community. Again, no electioneering—just prayerful, conscientious voting by secret ballot.)
Bahá’í consultation: A low-conflict approach to making decisions
The other low-conflict element of Bahá’í administration that Ripley found in her research is the process of decision-making, simply referred to as “consultation.” As Ripley shared with the Aspen Institute, the ideal way to deal with conflict is to avoid it in the first place. Bahá’í consultation, she said, is designed “to keep the ego in check and keep high conflict less likely.”
When the Assembly needs to discuss an issue or make a decision, all members are encouraged to voice their thoughts and opinions frankly and openly. But as soon as an idea is presented, it becomes the idea of the group to discuss. It is no longer associated with the individual who shared it. Discussion centers on the idea itself and the spiritual principles that need to be applied to the situation. Ripley says this method aligns with how humans naturally function, helping “reduce the odds of the kind of binary, us-versus-them dynamic that we know tends to lead to high conflict.”
Of course, we are ever-evolving humans doing our best, not perfect beings. I have occasionally seen personal conflict arise over the years, and I’ve seen it handled well and not so well. But considering the inherent complexities of human dynamics, the Bahá’í system works remarkably well as designed and intended. Compared with how elections and institutions so often function, it’s truly a beautiful thing to witness and participate in.
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