More Love (Karleigh’s Song) A Let’s Choose Love Spotlight
Have you ever listened to a song, and then all of a sudden, a lyric just reaches out, captures your heart, and you find yourself playing it over and over again? That was what it was like for me the first time I heard “More Love” (Karleigh’s Song) by Billy Jonas. I had been working on the concept for Let’s Choose Love when I came to the line “ Did you put more love in the world today, more love on your way to the setting sun, there is only one measure when you can honestly say, I put more love ..” I knew that I had found the core question each of us must ask at the end of the day. Did I put more love in the world?
Having adopted it as one of the theme songs for our “Let’s Choose Love” movement, I began to dig deeper into the story behind the music, and was pleased to discover a remarkable tale involving three generations of women, a bat mitzvah, a best friend, acts of service and some key lessons learned that I can share with you now.
Karleigh Ring - Let’s Choose Love Spotlight Story
Karleigh Ring was 11, and a member of Congregation Beth Hatephila, when it became time for her to prepare for her bat mitzvah, the Jewish coming of age ritual for girls. One of the requirements was to complete a service project, but instead of one Karleigh decided she would work on four. Her projects ranged from raising funds to adopt and train Emma, a black lab puppy to be a guide dog for Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind, raising funds for WaterAid's GirlStrong program and creating the "Reading Spot" at Helpmate women's shelter. Her mom just chuckled as Karleigh, now age 17, was sharing her story. “She is just that kind of kid” her mom said proudly.
She shared with me the story about her experience with Child-Life at Mission Children’s Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina. During that time, Karleigh’s best friend was a patient there. Every day after school, Karleigh would go to visit Austen. Her mom said that Karleigh could not go more than 48-hours without seeing or talking with her, they were that connected. During her visits, she got to know the staff and the other kids in the program. Being in the hospital as a kid is hard, but the doctors, nurses and staff made it bearable.
That summer, Karleigh had planned to take a three-week trip with her grandparents to Israel. The girls were not sure how they could be apart for that long, but the team at Child-Life came up with a creative solution. They took pictures of the two girls, enlarged the photos and pasted them onto popsicle sticks. While apart, each girl took her popsicle friend on their individual adventures. “Austen” was able to accompany Karleigh throughout the Holy Land, and “Karleigh” was able to tag along on Austen’s Make-A-Wish adventure. They took lots of pictures together along the way. The staff at Mission facilitated frequent Facetime visits and made it possible for the girls to stay connected while apart. It was an incredible gift, especially since Austen passed away on July 30th, a little over a month after the trip.
Time to Give Back
Karleigh wanted to give back to the Child-Life program and people who gave her so much. She raised over $500 through collecting donations and then matching what she collected with her own money. After securing funds, she recruited her friend Perry Berlin to go with her on a shopping spree. They purchased socks, underwear, games, arts and crafts supplies and other items needed to best serve the children and families in the program.
Karleigh just completed her junior year of High School and plans to pursue a degree that will allow her to work with children. When I asked her about her greatest lesson from her experience, she answered,
“The biggest thing I learned is that you only have so much time, so anything good you can do in that time, you should do it. I keep thinking that Austen is not here to make that choice or have that experience.”
“Karleigh has a special power to connect with people by reaching out with love to those who are not comfortable navigating the world alone” says her grandmother, Karla Diamond. She and her husband, Preston, wanted to do something special for Karleigh to honor her during the bat mitzvah, and to elevate the ceremony to a higher and more beautiful level. They knew that music provides their granddaughter with solace, hope and encouragement so decided a song would be the perfect tribute. They reached out to singer songwriter Billy Jonas and commissioned a Bridging Divides custom song. They worked together to create a piece that captured the essence of Karleigh and her acts of service throughout the bat mitzvah year.
More Love (Karleigh’s Song) was performed by Billy Jonas during her service. From this story, I can honestly say that Karleigh is an example of someone who can put more love in the world today.
