EVERYTHING WILL BE ALRIGHT
“I
don’t think of all the misery,
but
of the beauty that still remains.”
Anne
Frank
‘Hope’
is a bright four-letter word, just as ‘Love’ and ‘Life’ are. Had it not been for
Hope, Life, for all of us, would have been a dark, endless tunnel, completely
devoid of meaning. Yes, Hope holds Life together for us, so that we are able to
say, “Everything will be alright”, and “I went to prison, but I never let my
mind go to prison.”
By the way, what
significance do those two statements have? Whose words are those, and what is
the context?
Another routine
thing I would do in our summer programmes for the young ones (on Personality
Development) was showing them many inspiring videos from the talent shows, such as ‘America’s
Got Talent’ or ‘Britain’s Got Talent’. Most of them would be the Golden Buzzer moments,
which gave us goosebumps, and took our breath away. Our young ones would enjoy
them as much as I would. But, this summer… Well, I miss watching them together
and feel charged!
Nevertheless,
nothing is actually missed in today’s world… There is everything right at our
fingertips. So, yesterday, I got to watch two very inspiring videos of ‘America's Got Talent’. Let me share those two videos and talk about them…
EVERYTHING WILL
BE ALRIGHT:
This is a
remarkable story of an initiative started by young musicians, Steph Johnson and
Nina Leilani, who were pained to see the plight of homeless people on the streets
of San Diego - young and old, White and Coloured. It was the determined and
compassionate story of these women, bringing hope and zest into the lives of
these homeless people. They knit them together to form a choir group by the
name – ‘Voices of Our City Choir’. And, the video, which I will be sharing in this
blog, chronicles the inspiring story of they making it to the electrifying stage
of ‘America’s Got Talent’. Here it is…
What I like here
is the simple truth, that individuals, like you and I, may not be able to eradicate
massive problems like poverty, hunger and homelessness from this world. But,
like these two women did, we can, certainly, do our bit, within our own circle
of influence. Hope is very, very contagious… This video testifies to this fact.
I WENT TO
PRISON, BUT I NEVER LET MY MIND GO TO PRISON:
And, this story comes
straight from a crime novel – rather, from the Scriptures! Look at this 58-year-old
man from Louisiana, Archie Williams, who was convicted on false charges of rape and attempted
murder, wherein he was handed a life-imprisonment. He spent thirty-seven long
years in the prison, just because he had no means to fight the legal system.
However, thanks to the dogged efforts of a humanitarian group – ‘The Innocence Project’ - which fights for such innocent, helpless convicts, Archie Williams
was a free man after thirty-seven horrendous years in prison!
Archie William’s
story instantly reminds us of Nelson Mandela’s life in the prison of Robben Island
for twenty-seven years. Just as the great South African leader, Archie, a Black
citizen himself, remained unpolluted and unbroken, despite the cruel treatment
Life had offered him. His story also reminds me of one of the timeless classics
of Leo Tolstoy – ‘God Sees the Truth, But Waits’. We had this story in our English
text book. It’s, again, the story of a man falsely accused of murder and made
to spend long years in the prison… and, eventually coming face-to-face with the
real murderer inside the cell… Imagine what you and I would have done in such a
situation! I highly recommend this story to each one of you… Just don’t’ miss
it!
Coming back to
Archie Williams… In the video, he claims that prayer and singing kept his zest
alive… that he would regularly watch ‘America’s Got Talent’ inside the prison and visualize
himself on stage one day!
The rest, as
they say, was history…
Simon Cowell,
who is known for his reputation as a ‘tough-to-please judge’ – was so moved
after Archie's rendering of ‘Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me’ (an Elton
John classic), that he said, “Archie, I would never ever listen to that song,
in the same way, after you sang that… It took a whole different meaning to me…
You’re a very, very courageous person.” Even Sir Elton John was so touched by
Archie’s performance, that he tweeted, “I was moved to tears when I
heard Archie’s story and saw him perform ‘Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me’. The
courage and forgiveness shown by him is truly inspiring. The same spirit that
the world found so inspiring with Nelson Mandela. Love, E xx.”
Both
these stories are about Hope… That sublime something, which enables us to say
in the thick of darkness, yes, ‘Everything will be alright’, and, ‘I went to prison,
but I never let my mind go to prison’!
That’s the
beauty that still remains!
GERALD D'CUNHA
Pic.; www.blendernation.com
Videos: America's Got Talent
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