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