Dóchas

At the beginning of the semester, we asked our society professor to give us one or two Gaelic words per class, in hopes we'd learn some of the native Irish language. Today's word: Dóchas, means hope. While it didn't necessarily hit me in class, I was thinking about the word a few hours afterwards, and it reminded me of a video I watched a few days back.

Right before and during our journey across the pond nearly 6 weeks ago (tomorrow actually, yikes!), a tragic sequence of events took place in the Caribbean Sea. Haiti was struck by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake, leaving over 220,000 people dead and nearly 1 million people homeless. An estimated 52 aftershocks were felt over the following two weeks, leaving the country and its people reaching out to the rest of the world for help. While the coverage of the aftermath of the earthquake surely hasn't been up to the same level as it probably is back in the States, the images captured in Haiti of those people affected are horrific and terribly saddening.

A remake of 1985 hit "We Are the World" written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, was performed by a collaberative group of artists under the title "We Are the World 25 for Haiti." Top recording artists, including Janet Jackson, Celine Dion, Sugarland, Lil' Wayne, Jennifer Hudson, Usher, Adam Levine, Barbra Streisand, Kayne West, Carlos Santana, Josh Groban, Pink, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers, Jamie Foxx, Haitian-American Wyclef Jean and many other worked together on the single, under the leadership of Lionel Richie and Quincy Jones.

You may or may not have seen the video. Or maybe you saw it air during the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver a few weeks ago. If you haven't seen it, or heard the remake, take a few minutes to watch the video. It definitely inspired me, and gave me a reason to hope. "Dóchas"