Sadie Gustafson-Zook is a student at Goshen (Indiana) College. She is also a songwriter, fiddler and accomplished muscian. Sadie’s first solo album is called “Melange,” on which she is backed by her parents, accomplished folk musicians Les and Gwen Gustafson-Zook. 

Lyrics for “Lines that Divide”:

You and I don’t have to agree, we were brought up differently.
But we both know the gravity of living with lines that divide.

We have both faced our fair share of hardships we could not bear
But they were made easier with a hand that cared, omitting those lines that divide.

And oh, what we don’t know.
It’s so hard to live, it’s so hard to forgive what we have done to each other.
And oh, What we don’t know.
It’s so hard to live with lines and lines and lines between you and I.

You and I don’t have to agree, we were brought up differently.
But I’ll hear you out- we’re humanity.
We’re turning those lines into dashes, ‘til eventually…

When I was a high schooler, I spent much of my time and energy on theater. Theater allowed me the opportunity to see the world from someone else’s point of view, understand their motivations and goals, and become a more empathetic person.

Sometimes being someone else was difficult and it was hard to know what my character would do in a certain situation. In times like these my directors told me something that remains extremely relevant today: if you don’t know what to do, focus on someone else.

In the context of theater, it is easy to get caught up in your own head but the moment you start noticing the people around you, you can play off of them and all of the sudden you are doing something in character that you aren’t intentionally thinking about and you are adding to the community.

As a college senior, I often find myself confused as to how I can contribute to society, but throughout my various questions, this phrase has continued to be quite helpful. It reminds me that constantly focusing on myself can lead to an endless echo chamber of uncertainty, while taking a moment to consider someone else’s reality both takes the pressure off of me to figure out my own stuff and provides a refreshing glimpse into another way of life.

I think that a lot of people right now are feeling lost, and empathy is the only balm that can heal us.

My song “Lines that Divide” attempts to be a reminder that we are bigger than our opinions, and our ability to respect each other should be based on our common humanity, not on whether or not we believe in access to abortion. I tried to write in a way that could appeal to people of any ideology, stripping back the layers of nuance, leaving only the overarching goal of respecting one another. Writing this song involved taking a huge step back, one that I was resistant at first to take. I didn’t want to brush over all of the pain that we have inflicted on each other but I also knew that I needed to say something, and I needed everyone to be able to hear it. If that meant  being general and looking at things on a much larger scale, so be it.

I also must add that I do not believe that being civil with one another and being unified are one in the same. The intent of “Lines that Divide” is not to say that people should stay in unhealthy relationships for the sake of unity. As this song is applied to the Mennonite church, I do not mean to suggest that all of the pain and disappointment that the church has inflicted should be dismissed in the name of “togetherness.”

But surely we can take a moment to look beyond ourselves and to recognize the humanity in our neighbors without jeopardizing our personal convictions.

When I wrote this song at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, November 8, I was feeling hopeful. I also knew that whichever way the election went, half of the country would be beyond upset. I sat down at the piano and wrote what I thought was a post-election song of consolation for the Republicans, but as the day wore on and the tune remained in my head, it became clear that my victory song would be much harder to hear. My words stung. With a new reality approaching, they still sting.

But I know that it’s as true as ever that the lines that plague our nation and our denomination will only turn to dashes when we are willing to shift our focus away from ourselves and toward someone else.

Listen to “Lines that Divide”: