A blurb on Graceland

In 1985, I was ten years old and Paul Simon had entered Johannesburg, South Africa to find local musicians and create one of the most amazing collaborations ever.  The fact that this collaboration even took place is a marvel given the political environment of the day.  Mandela was imprisoned, apartheid was the law, people lived under suffocating oppression.  By all accounts, the tour and album should never have materialized, but despite all odds, there it was.  So many years later, in 2011, Paul went back to Johannesburg for a reunion with all those musicians, another marvel, as everyone was older and dispersed.  I am watching a recording of Under African Skies which is an account of this reunion, early this morning since sleep eludes me lately.  Watching some of the political aspects of the film reminds me that there are brilliant and resilient people all over the world.  The racism and oppression depicted in the film is unbelievable.  The people in South Africa were not free in 1985 and they managed to find such joy in music despite the hatred of the day.  We think we have problems here in our community; when the sad truth is, most of us have not yet been put in a furnace.  I am not certain I could locate brilliant and resilient people in the community in which I live.  Oh sure, there are plenty of pretty smart cookies around but they all seem to be competing with one another for who can shine the brightest and they seem to really dislike being questioned or challenged.  They have difficulty shifting their mindset from "I must enlighten you with what I know so you can do this my way" to "Let's enlighten one another and better our community together."  Paul Simon and his contacts in Johannesburg, enlightened one another and made the world a better place.  Thank you world, for giving us Graceland. Brilliant. Enlightened. Satisfying. Wonderful.
"Homeless, Homeless, Moonlight sleeping on the midnight lake."
http://youtu.be/Sg7IlKl-nkc