We Are The World 2020

 Last night, Monday, May 18th, the ABC series American Idol knighted its 2020 winner, remotely.  Lionel Ritchie also debut his latest rendition of We Are The World, first released in March 5, 1985 for famine efforts in Ethiopia.

I  teared up, not in the memory, but in the stark reality and the imagery of  our current condition - alone, abandoned, barren, bare, cold, comfortless, deserted, distanced, and endless emptiness.  

Lionel opened the song, just as he did in the original version, by himself.  But this time, he is not joined by a Stevie Wonder and surrounded by celebrities lending their voices in the same space, same room, standing next to each other.  In We Are The World  American Idol 2020 version, he is followed by the to-be-crowned winner, Just Sam, singing remotely by herself from some other place and with other idol contestants interposed in places such as a deserted Grand Central Station, empty subway car, grandstand and bleachers with no spectators, a beach with a closed sign, abandoned streets in major cities, bridges with no cars, monuments with no visitors, a dock with no cruise ships, but with a solitary military hospital ship.  And it went on and on with the faces of the idols splashed on billboards and monuments.  As the song is ending Just Sam is alone singing from a window and my tears which were falling in drizzles came down as rain.  

As I rewatched the video this morning, I could see the hope in the beauty of nature and the man-made wonders, in the vibrant colors and even the cleanliness from the emptiness.  I saw hope in the young people and from Lionel as the leader.  It gives hope for a new beginning.