An Impossible Dream In 7 Steps

Is there a better investment?

Before the coronavirus, my life was an impossible dream. I would make five to ten new friends per day. How? By singing to them a song dear to their hearts. 

Where? Usually at the Minute Man National Park in Concord, Massachusetts. Otherwise, wherever I happened to be - at the grocery store, the pharmacy, the bank, the Department of Motor Vehicles, or just strolling down the streets of Concord.
 

These strangers and friends-to-be were usually tourists or recent immigrants. 

If they were from Africa, I would sing to them in Swahili (“Jambo”), Zulu (“Nkosi Sikelel iAfrika”), Xhona (“Ngororoma”), Akan (“Asedayo”) or Nigerian pidgin (“Sweet Mother”). 

If they were from Asia I would sing in Mandarin (“Ye Si”) by LiBai, Korean (“Arirang”), Japanese (“Sakura”), Maori (“PokareKareana”), Punjabi (the “Mul Mantra”), Sanskrit (the “Gayatri Mantra”). 

If they were Muslim I recited “Al Fatihah.” If Jewish I would sing the “Modeh Ani.” If Armenian “Karoun, Karoun.”

If from Latin America or the Iberian peninsula I would sing to them in Spanish (“Arroro Mi Nine” and “Cielito Lindo”) or Portuguese (“La Garota de Ipanema”.) 

If from elsewhere in Europe I would sing to them in French (“La Marseillaise”), German (“An Die Freude”), Italian (“Volare”), Swedish (“Var WIndar Frisca”)

Dutch (“Lang Zal Sie Leben”), Polish (“Stolat”). Russian (“Kuda, Kuda”), Bulgarian (“Hubavasi”), Hungarian (“Tava Sci Szell”), Bosnian (“Ka Dja Pojo”), Czech (“Holka Moodrooka”), Welsh “Calon Lan.” Scotland “Loch Lomond,” Irish (cheating here) “Danny Boy,” Greek, “Kis Dikayosini,”

These thirty-odd songs are the keys to the hearts of seven billion people and should be the core humanities curriculum of every school on the planet. The opportunity cost of teaching any other texts Is infinite - the missed opportunity of giving to each child the keys to the hearts of seven billion people. 

A challenge. Yes. Impossible no. Here’s the rough math. 30 songs, 3 hours to memorize each. 90 hours. Spread over 13 years (K-12) = 7 hours per year.

Is there a better investment? Tell me about it. I’m eager to learn.                                                       

 

1. It wasn’t planned. I started taking walks through Minute Man Park for health reasons - a bad back and hypertension. That would be in 2007. Then it occurred to me that I was walking by people from all over the world. Why not say hello?

2. The first stranger I approached was from France. So I sang the Marseillaise. “You made my day,” said the tourist. I liked the sound of it.

3. The next stranger was from Mexico. So I sang “Cielito Lindo.” Same response. Face lit up. Beaming smile.

4. Their joy was like a drug. I wanted more.

5. But I soon ran out of languages. Spanish, French, Italian, German was pretty much it. Then I met someone from Hungary. “I don’t know any Hungarian. What’s your favorite song?” I asked. “Tava Szi Sell” came the reply. 

6. So I go to YouTube, pick the version I like best. Three hours later, I’m ready to greet the next Hungarian tourist and test the hypothesis that this is the most beloved Hungarian song. I do. It works. And a year later I’m singing to 40 Hungarian boy and girl scouts on a field trip to the Minute Man National Park.

7. So, you guessed it, week by week, month by month, year after year, the repertoire expanded from 10 to 20 to 30 languages.

No time was better spent.

John Muresianu is the founder of the Liberal Arts Academy and the Thinking Citizen, a member of the Adams House Senior Common Room at Harvard College, and author of A Common Sense Guide to Section Teaching at Harvard.