Candace Payne has made it a point to spread joy and living life for simple joys on her Facebook page, and since May 19, 2016, she has been able to amplify that joy to the nearly 160 million people who have watched her now-famous “Chewbacca Mom” video.
And even though Payne has gained some fame in recent months, she’s remained true to her original purpose: simple joys.
The political atmosphere is charged, to say the very least, in the United States right now. Following a series of senseless killings which have furthered conversations on equality and human rights, that already-charged atmosphere feels somehow even more so.
Last week, following two separate incidents in which police shot and killed Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge and Philando Castile outside of Minneapolis, a group was holding a peaceful protest in Dallas. That peaceful protest turned deadly when a sniper started picking off police officers. When it was all over, 5 police officers had been killed — the deadliest day for law enforcement since the September 11, 2001 attacks.
It’s been a trying few weeks, to be sure.
Candace Payne, who lives about 30 minutes outside of Dallas in Grand Prairie, responded with another video. The Candace Payne we see here is much more subdued than the gasping-with-laughter Payne of the Chewbacca Mom video, but she is sincere in her desire to spread joy.
“I really don’t know what else to say other than, I’ve been spreading joy and I’ve been hoping to do that. But I’ve found myself the last couple days being silent because I’ve been so sad and so hurt by what’s going on,” Payne says in the video.
She goes on to perform her own arrangement of “Heal the World” by Michael Jackson.
“Make a better place, y’all. Fill it with joy, not hate,” she says at the end. Those are certainly words to live by.
Check out the full video below.
[facebookpost https://www.facebook.com/candaceSpayne/videos/10210086042808013