The following is a copy of a letter I wrote to Josh in 2010. I wanted to post it here for historical reasons. I find that my thinking on this topic has changed somewhat since then.
Dear Josh,
I want to explain to you why I am giving you the DVD of the
Estonian documentary called “The Singing Revolution” and why I want you to add
Michael Jackson’s song “Heal the World” to the program of your upcoming world
tour. So many thoughts are crowding into
my head, and I know you are a busy person!
I will try to organize them, though, like stampeding buffalo, they
tumble over one another in the most unmanageable fashion, threatening to become
a book rather than merely a letter. I am
not so good at producing sound bytes.
During 2009 and 2010 I have been largely unemployed, and
spending much of my time on YouTube, which is where I found you, and also where
I found Michael Jackson. In this
process, I have been struck by the power of music and dance and the power of
telecommunication. In 2009,
telecommunications allowed the emotion of fear to spread instantaneously, both
with the global economic panic and also with the swine flu panic. I have hoped that 2010 forward might be the
years where such experiences of simultaneity would be more constructive.
I’ve seen the most extraordinary things on YouTube. My own history as a peace activist caused me
to focus on certain ones: the enormous crowds Michael Jackson saw singing and
dancing together during his concerts … his remarks about his audiences, “It’s
beautiful. It’s love. Even the politicians can’t do that.” … the
prisoners in Cebu, the Philippines dancing together to Michael Jackson’s music
in an effort at rehabilitation … some dancers in Stockholm dancing to Michael
Jackson’s song “Beat It” in a flash mob, asking others to do it, and cities
around the world in rapid succession responding to that request … 1 billion
people worldwide joining to watch Michael Jackson’s memorial service, including
Judith Hill’s moving rendition of “Heal the World” … your group singing “We are
the World” for Haiti … Kris Phillips leading a group of international pop singers
in China (including a Russian, a Korean, and a Dutch/Egyptian) only about a
month after you, at the World Expo in Shanghai, singing the same song.
During the summer of 2009, I also saw the movie, “The
Singing Revolution.” I hope you’ll watch
it. The Estonians rose up for
independence at the same time as the Latvians and Lithuanians, but unlike the
latter two, the Estonians were non-violent.
They were non-violent because their revolution was a singing revolution,
based around singing a single song at a music festival. Their story was every bit as moving as that
of Mahatma Ghandi in India or Martin Luther King, Jr. in the USA.
Michael Jackson rose to prominence when he was about 10,
which was also about the time Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. He looked out in his audience and saw black
and white people holding hands and singing together. He realized then that music had power, just
as the Estonians later came to see the same thing, just as so many people have
seen it – the power to make people join in harmony rather than arguing with one
another.
There are a couple of other stories I want to tell you in
this regard. There was the story of the
Christmas truce. Have you heard this
story? It happened during WWI, in the
trenches, between some British and German soldiers, at Christmas. It happened because they had a song in common
– “Silent Night.” The Germans put up a
truce flag and started singing Christmas carols. The British joined in. They came out of their trenches. They celebrated Christmas together. Afterwards it was very difficult to get them
to shoot at each other again. Some
troops had to be rotated off the front.
One of my friends had a similar experience singing Silent
Night in Rockefeller center recently, where, when security guards tried to get
people to move in the middle of the song they would not. They sang louder and more and more people
joined, making it impossible for the security guards to clear them until the
song was over.
Thinking about all these things, I remembered that every
country has a national anthem, that Martin Luther King, Jr. had people singing
“We Shall Overcome,” that everyone has recognized the power of singing together
– yet, YET, the United Nations fails to have an effective international anthem. Apparently, there was a song, but capitalist
nations felt that that song was communist or some such thing. How on earth could we hope to have world
peace if we don’t have a song we could all join in singing together?
Michael Jackson was trying to address this problem. He wrote three songs that might be suitable:
“We Are the World,” “Heal the World,” and “Cry.” The second, “Heal the World,” was the song he
said he was most proud of – the best song by the king of pop. I was impressed that 1 billion people watched
his memorial service and heard the first two together, though presumably they
already knew them. I was impressed that
when I was on boards for a Michael Jackson fan website that there was a woman there
from Sri Lanka who told me that “Heal the World” was in the official elementary
school music textbooks there. Now that
is market penetration! Michael Jackson
performed in 40 countries. That’s a lot
of work. It has brought some fruit. I particularly like Michael Jackson’s short
film for his “Heal the World” video that shows soldiers throwing down their
guns
You are about to start a 2 year international tour from what
you’ve said. You have tremendous energy,
that most people don’t have, that would enable you to accomplish this task, which
seems to me, a middle aged woman, rather daunting. You could deepen the penetration of these
songs.
The best song — by the best pop singer — please don’t let it
die. Please add it to your concert
program, or, if not that one, then one of the other two on this topic.
Please also look into the even called mjjworldcry that
Michael Jackson fans tried to organize on the first anniversary of his
death. They wanted the whole world to
join together in singing Michael Jackson’s song “Cry,” as illustrated in his
“Cry” video – sort of like we had “Hands Across America” 20 years ago. Are you old enough to remember that? It seems like a possibility, what with the
telecommunications we have. These fans did not succeed that first time, but
they did not have celebrity endorsement.
They did not have corporate sponsorship.
I would also appreciate if you could look into helping organizing such
an event. You are so very good at
networking. I believe you might be
effective in bringing it off. I believe
that such an event would have a significant impact on bringing more peace to
the world.
So here’s my attempt at a sound byte, bowdlerized a bit from
Lord of the Rings:
ONE SONG TO HEAL THE WORLD
ONE SONG TO BIND THEM
With love,
Straight Arrow
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