will and grace

Last night I went to a concert to support aid in Darfur. If you don't know about Darfur, then you need to get educated.

I've forgotten how amazing it is to see wonderfully talented muscians on stage. Two acts were locals. One was not. They were all amazing in their own way. The first guy, Scott Crowder, is a Richmonder. He had a voice that was the perfect combination of Bono, Chris Martin, and Bruce Springstein. I was tranfixed when he hit his keyboard. He channeled Coldplay and I was in swoon. His baby was also cooing in the back of the auditorium. Nothing like commitment to make a muscian more lovely.

The second act blew me away with two guys who were a little scruffy with the we're-cool-simply-because-we're-up-here sort of way. Ed played the violin and mandolin and John played the guitar. Ed cracked me up, he almost fell off of his chair, he forgot the beginning of a song, but the whole time he made fun of himself. This endured me to him. He hair was a little long, dark, and curly and his voice reminded me of Crash Test Dummies. But, John, John was the one I drooled over. He was built like a rectangle with squared shoulders. He wore dark blue jeans and grey Princeton shirt. His hair was as dark as mine, brown and almost black, and cut in an early Beatles kind of way. When he opened his mouth, I was in love. Kristin and I had been dicussing the lure of muscians. I claimed it was the voice, the voice that makes a girl say "Oh, so that's what you look like." A boy can look like Bigfoot, but if he sings with confidence and strong voice, he will look like Brad Pitt. It's just the way it is. And then Kristin told me that John was 21! Whoops.

The point is that we were surrounded by great music for a great cause. And Derek Webb spoke about loving your neighbor and he said that your neighbor is anyone who has a need which you have the resources to meet. Did you get that? You neighbor is anyone who has a need which you have the resources to meet. Get educated people. Darfur, the Sudan, humanity needs you. And you don't need to uproot your life and go to the Peace Corp., but just tell others. Because, while America has made some good political importance for the Sudan, it is not near enough. Just learn and pass it on and help your neighbor, because if you are American or European, then you most definitely have the resources. And if we have the WILL to help then we will certainly show our GRACE.