I've got the Live8 Concert(s) [wikipedia] on in the background, and Sir Bob just played a segment from the original Live Aid concert - ending at what I thought was a child that had just died in it's parent's arms.
Image courtesy Live-Aid.info (via CBC)
Bob went on to say that the child was probably 10 minutes from death, but that they were able to step in and help, and that the child had just graduated from agricultural school in Ethiopia. Then, he introduced the now-grown child on stage. One of the most powerful moments I can remember. She is now an amazingly vibrant and glowing young woman. Thank god she wasn't written off 20 years ago! It boggles my mind to think about all of the other kids that didn't have that one-in-a-billion chance...
Image courtesy BBC.co.uk
This was one of those extremely rare moments that cuts through the normal commercialized, consumer-driven/oriented drivel on TV. This was real, and it brought tears to my eyes.
One thing that struck me a little odd, however, was when a group of millionaire rock stars get together to "fight against poverty in a world of plenty." So... They've got millions, right? Put your money where your mouth is, and put your pimped-out Humvees on Ebay to pay for a couple thousand water pumps in Africa... Oh, and never mind about the rumoured $16K gift bags the performers apparently received. That's a lot of food...
Update: Something else that just struck me - it took me a LOT of googling to find these two images. This should have been the message of the whole event - that it's possible to make a huge difference - and yet it's buried in obscure websites that are only brought to light through the tenacity of Google's spiders...