We are the World

This morning I had the pleasure of starting my day by having coffee with a beautifully brilliant and brilliantly beautiful young friend (I told you I'm prone to using superlatives but take my word for it -- he's deserving of them). We talked about his career trajectory (which he appears to be launching while still an undergrad), my career trajectory (which I didn't launch quite so earnestly but which is evolving in pretty awesome ways nonetheless), politics, the fate of America, not being responsible for your partner's happiness in a relationship, delayed gratification, why so many people start out idealistic and end up jaded -- yep, we left very few stones unturned.

The theme we returned to -- more than once -- was that the only real solution to many of this country's problems is to do a better job than we currently do at educating our populace. Having enjoyed a couple of months of underemployment, I'm about to dedicate myself full-time to that task. And I'm going to do it by being willing -- no, insisting -- on finding common ground with all the parties involved -- no matter their political or interest group affiliation.

I can think of no better lyric to underscore this sentiment than Cyndi Lauper's portion of the original We are the World tune, written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie:

Well, well, well, well, let us realize

That a change will only come

When we stand together as one...

I love this song. I love so many of the artists who participated in the original -- Stevie, Kenny, Tina, Michael, Bruce, Bob, Ray -- and I love the sheer magnitude of all of these artists raising their voices together, knowing they could make a difference (their cause was aid to Africa).

Twenty-five years later, some musicians -- many from the current generation -- remade this song to help motivate people to come together in the wake of the earthquake in Haiti. I don't recognize as many of these artists as I'm sure my coffee date from this morning would -- but it occurs to me that the difference between he and I -- and the difference between the artists in the original and those in the remake -- is just on the surface. Underneath, we want the same things: a peaceful country to both live and believe in, the satisfaction of making a difference, and love.