There are moments that I sometime fall victim to despair at the weight of my expectations for social change. Today was not one of those days. I happened upon a Proctor and Gamble commercial that relit the flame of hope inside me and I knew I had to share it with you.

The commercial focused on a phenomenon that is an everyday reality for minorities…The Look.

The look is difficult to describe to a person who had no concept of what it is to feel like an “other” but this commercial does an excellent job of capturing the perspective. Take a moment to watch it if you haven’t seen it already or refresh if you have.

Did you feel that? The almost itchy sense of anxiety. The quickening of your breath. The tightening of your chest. The instinct to look away at times because you sensed something bad was about to happen.

Yeah, welcome to the realm of American Other.

But ask yourself this question, “Why does this persist in our culture?” And more importantly, “What will it take to excise this cancer from the body of our great nation?”

Do we want to heal?

Do we want to shine as a great beacon of hope to the rest of the world?

Are we willing to put in the work to fulfill the promise of this nation to be a land of the free?

Or are we content to fall short and continue to look past our promised land?

Marta C. Youngblood is a writer, education and social entrepreneur based in Little Rock, Arkansas. For more information on her current projects visit https://about.me/MCyoungblood.