Bad Bunny Challenged Isolationism

I appreciated the brief immersion into a world that challenged isolation

during the Bad Bunny halftime show. Kudos on a full Spanish performance. It touched my soul. The movement was familiar. It was all a vibe.

I understand isolation. For over a decade, I participated in a ministry-run outreach on Super Bowl Sunday. We used halftime as an opportunity to build community with team games and minute-to-win competitions. We enjoyed our huddle away from the secular music performed on the television. Family friendly.

Protest by Isolation:

During that ministry outreach, we didn’t interrupt the game because the that was considered a moral gathering. So this year when Turning Point created a national option for halftime, it felt eerily familiar. Protest by isolating. The proud and patriotic would send a message by tuning out what seemed contrary to their group identity. The same isolation I’d practiced was now on national display. I understand isolation.

Cautious isolation:

My neighborhood is fine. Not ritzy. Not dangerous. But it’s a city neighborhood. There is a Dollar General at the end of our street. We are three blocks away from where JaylandWalker was shot. We are six blocks away from a park and less than a mile from a public elementary school. Our kids rarely played outside with others.

They had far more friends away from our neighborhood than in our neighborhood. As they grew up, we were outside together, inside together, or away together. We didn’t encourage roaming around unsupervised. Because there’s a large age gap, they both grew up without a sibling peer to be outside with. The kids in my neighborhood looked at my kids as the special ones who don’t come out very often. Good kids. Kind kids. But isolated. I understand isolation.

Bad Bunny challenged Isolationism:

I really enjoyed the halftime show that Bad Bunny put on. The cultural beauty and the joy resonated with me. From sugarcane fields to bodegas, there was beauty in the performance. We were given permission to interpret every scene that we saw. To question what felt new to us. To identify what felt familiar. And to embrace difference.

I wondered if we would see any portion of the show where individuals were in tactical gear. Any message that was provided was far more subtle. As it seems that the emphasis was on joy. I appreciated the lands that were called out. The flags that were held up. The honor that was given. This was a challenge to isolation. And I appreciate it.

So as we return to life after our “halftime shows of choice,” let’s consider isolation with sobriety. We might choose isolation for protest. We might choose it for caution. I hope to counter isolation so that I might experience something new, and unfamiliar, and beautiful in this land where we sing about being both free and brave.