If
you’ve taken a few moments over the years to explore this web
site, you may have seen that Harry Chapin is a personal favorite
of mine… both for his work as a musician and as an example of
trying to make the world a better place. In just a few days, the
organization World Hunger Year (WHY, founded by Harry Chapin)
will begin its annual Hungerthon efforts (actually, many efforts
are already underway). You can learn more about it at the WHY
web site. Here, I would like to take a few
minutes to reflect and consider…
Would
Harry Chapin be proud?
“This
year’s food drive was an overwhelming success, but we have just
one problem and we’re going to address it. Next week we’re canceling
all of our classes and we’re going to talk about what these families
are going to eat next week.”
~
Harry Chapin on a “sensible” education system
It’s
been over twenty years since the world lost Harry Chapin, and
it isn’t that far-fetched to believe that if he were alive today,
he wouldn’t have let the arrival of a new millennium pass without
making several comments on the state of the planet and the nature
of man. So as Thanksgiving 2003 nears, would Chapin be proud of
the way things are going?
On
Tuesday, November 7, 2000, the United States of America held a
national election to select a new president. In the 1996 presidential
election, history was made when less than half of eligible Americans
voted.
As
a measure of apathy, it would appear that Chapin might have just
cause for concern. After all, if a country can’t get half of its
people to vote for what is acknowledged as “the leader of the
free world,” than how can they be expected to make a difference
in the lives of those less fortunate. As a group, it’s very difficult
to look at the picture of mankind and find it to be motivated
beyond personal interests and self-serving efforts.
In
the song “I wonder what would happen to this world” Chapin asks
the listener to picture a world where every individual tried to
accomplish everything they were capable of achieving. At concerts,
he often told his audience that there was a difference between
the upper, middle and lower classes. He said that the upper class
couldn’t be counted on for help because they didn’t want to spend
their money. The lower class had too many issues to be worried
about personally to offer any assistance to others. Chapin concludes
that it is up to the people in the middle class to make the difference.
But, in the end, what Chapin in his casual comments truly seems
to be recognizing is, that beyond wealth, race, age, or any other
defining classification, it is the individual and the contributions
made to the world that makes the difference. Is the world better
because this person is here than it would be if this person weren’t?
Ask
any fan of Harry Chapin how they feel about him and his efforts
and, though there may be several answers, one will clearly be
heard more than all others combined. “I miss him.” Harry’s closet
friends acknowledge repeatedly that he was generous with his time
and commitments to a fault. And yet, people that loved Harry Chapin
loved the fact that he was accessible, that he was genuine, and
that he was true to his beliefs. Thousands of people attended
his shows, knowing there would be preachy moments but also knowing
that he cared. His legacy lives on in the continuing efforts of
World Hunger Year, which he helped to found. And his legacy lives
on in the efforts of individuals that, without the stage Chapin
had to speak from, try to make the world a better place not just
for themselves, but for all those around.
So
take a few minutes and consider where you are right now. And,
if you can, send a dollar to a local soup kitchen. Donate a blanket
to a homeless shelter. Give a can to a food drive. Do something
to make the world around just a little bit better than it was
five minutes ago. It doesn’t take much effort to try, even once
a year, to make Harry Chapin proud.