A different sort of share today.
In 2003 I had the privilege of attending the Independence Day concert at the National Cathedral in Washington. I have just watched this year’s event – rather different of course thanks to the pandemic – on YouTube and it is that I am sharing.
As I watch events unfold in the USA these days my thoughts go out to my many friends over there. It seems that ‘good news’ is in very short supply and any voices that would bring some semblance of good sense and constructive thinking are quickly drowned out by those who prefer chaos, divisiveness and a continuation of what looks (from the outside) to be a system broken in many ways.
It was therefore pleasing to listen to this. Whilst still a patriotic celebration it managed to pay tribute to the many who have suffered through the pandemic and acknowledge the importance of dealing with racism. The inclusion of a recording of part of Martin Luther King’s sermon that he gave in the Cathedral just days before his assassination was an excellent choice for today and did indeed speak to the situation today just as much as it did back then. (Its at around 35:45 if you want to skip the rest)
Of course, the USA is not alone in having issues that need to be dealt with – the message that inequalities should be removed needs to be heard everywhere.
Independence Day Concert 2020
Comments :
Vincenzo Arrichiello
Dear George, living in a deeply divided and sectarian country I listened with admiration, and a bit of envy, to the multi-voices reading of the Declaration of Independence. Thank you so much for sharing.
George R McConnell
Yes – that was well presented – its a shame that type of image is not the one that most people see. Instead the many (powerful) voices who would fan the flames of division are heard rising above what I am sure is the majority who would heal those same divisions.
I know little of the internal situation in Italy – but again I am sure that you could find many examples of similar “unheard” voices of reason and peace.
Vincenzo Arrichiello
Not so many, actually. Maybe it is a side effect of the lockdown that is forcing to communicate via Facebook also with people that live nearby, and that type of channel does not allow a positive discussion, but Paola and me have had to discover some new aspects of some friends; and not good ones. To make an example, there is a friend of mine, really a good man, who frequently “likes” my posts when I criticise populists and the like (say Salvini and Trump). But when I criticised Stalin in a post (about the way he brougth “freedom” to part of Europe in WWII) wrote an angry comment to my post, claiming I was lacking respect to the russian soldiers that lost their life in the effort. In my view, too few reasonable and peaceful people shares their views on Facebook, while a lot of extremists do so; and this way many people get a distorted view of reality. Not a good thing, in my view.